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Hunger Strike Aftermath
Submitted on May 16, 2012Israel notoriously violates the deals it negotiates.
The Nakba: Before and After
Submitted on May 16, 2012Israel grievously harmed Palestinian heritage and culture.
Canada in Breach of Human Rights Obligations in Omar Khadr Case
Submitted on May 16, 2012By Lawyers Rights Watch - May 16, 2012
The Canadian government has...failed to take any steps to prevent or remedy U.S. crimes against Khadr including torture and other ill treatment, nine years of arbitrary detention without trial, denial of habeas corpus, denial of access to counsel, denial of access to an independent tribunal, conviction under retroactive laws, conviction based on confessions extracted by torture, and non-disclosure and falsification of evidence.
How Louisiana Became the Prison Capitol of the World
Submitted on May 16, 2012By Chris Kromm - May 15, 2012
The share of Louisiana's population that is locked up in jails or prisons is triple that of Iran and seven times that of China. In the last two decades, Lousiana's incarceration rate has doubled, with one out of 86 Louisianians doing time -- double the national rate...In Louisiana, it's not just big for-profit prison companies -- it's small-town entrepreneurial sheriffs who lock people up to make money...
Study Proves Sex Workers are Safer with Indoor Work Spaces
Submitted on May 16, 2012By Eli Mills - Vancouver Media Co-op
A study has recently been released by the BC Centre For Excellence in HIV and the University of British Columbia that proves what community advocates have been saying for years: safer indoor spaces for sex work save lives...“It’s common sense if you think about it...Imagine yourself preparing to work outside in the cold, negotiating services and fees in strangers’ cars. Then imagine yourself preparing to work out of your apartment building, which happens to be staffed with caring, vigilant support staff committed to helping you stay safe no matter what.”
Occupy Clinics: Health Care, Not Warfare
Submitted on May 16, 2012By Mental Health Movement Chicago - Sunday, May 13 2012
To all our family from the global 99%, to all those who believe that health care is a human right, to all those coming to protest NATO and its wars for profit around the globe, to all those who have struggled with mental illness personally or with loved ones, to all those who have been denied health care, to all those who have waited all day in emergency rooms, to all those public servants facing layoffs or cuts to salary and pension, to all those who are sick and tired of being sick and tired, to all those who believe that another world is possible beyond this madness.
Canada's No-Fly List: Who Really Controls Canadian Airspace?
Submitted on May 16, 2012By Maher Arar - rabble.ca
Canada is not the only decision-maker when it comes to refusing air travelers on overseas trips, and on some selected domestic flights which pass through U.S. airspace. This fact made many civil rights activists question whether Canada has lost its airspace sovereignty...[T]he negative impact of this list on civil liberties and on the lives of many innocent human beings has been significant: Lives have been destroyed...and worst of all, the psychological scars endured by those who are targeted by the list persist and may never go away.
U.S./Israeli Special Relationship
Submitted on May 15, 2012The US/Israeli relationship threatens humanity.
U.S. and Canada Implementing Beyond the Border Perimeter Security Initiatives
Submitted on May 15, 2012By Dana Gabriel
As the U.S.-Canada action plan implementation process continues, there still remains many concerns with the further integration and militarization of the northern border. This includes the loss of sovereignty and risks to privacy rights related to more cross-border sharing of personal information. While there have been online consultations surrounding the perimeter security agreement, there has yet to be any open public hearings or congressional and parliamentary debates.
Hunger Strike Deal
Submitted on May 15, 2012Palestinian hunger strikers redefined courage. Mass willingness to die for justice is unprecedented.
Mitt Romney the Bully
Submitted on May 15, 2012By Marjorie Cohn - May 15, 2012
A major problem among teens, bullying can lead to depression, and even suicide. When most people list the qualities they want to see in their President, “bully” is not one of them...Yet evidence continues to emerge that Mitt Romney is a bully...Romney’s bullying didn’t end in high school.
Musqueam Blockade Remains as Negotiations Continue
Submitted on May 15, 2012By Zig Zag - Vancouver Media Co-op
The Musqueam band's blockade of a condo construction site continues in the Marpole district of south Vancouver, as negotiations with the provincial government over a proposed land swap drag on. Established over a week ago, the blockade consists of chairs and a small tent. The construction site fencing itself is covered in signs and banners, with some signs being altered to reflect the goals of the blockade.
Mother Jones Deserves Her Own Stamp
Submitted on May 15, 2012By DAVID MACARAY - May 15, 2012
A fiction writer would be hard pressed to invent a character whose life was more tragic and sorrowful, yet more inspiring and socially relevant than that of Mary Harris Jones, better known as “Mother Jones”...Mary was a brilliant, charismatic speaker, and a fearless, dedicated champion of social justice. The authorities...were terrified of her.
East London Tenants Evicted in Run-Up to Olympics
Submitted on May 15, 2012By Robert Stevens - 15 May 2012
Tenants in east London are being evicted from their homes in the run-up to the London Olympics Games...In one case a woman told the BBC that she and her four house-mates had been evicted after being given just two weeks to leave. Another couple reported they had been given three weeks to get out...Seeking to cash in on the Olympics, some private landlords are letting their properties for 20 times the usual rental price during the games.
Musqueam Blockade Remains as Negotiations Continue
Submitted on May 14, 2012The Musqueam band's blockade of a condo construction site continues in the Marpole district of south Vancouver, as negotiations with the provincial government over a proposed land swap drag on. Established over a week ago, the blockade consists of chairs and a small tent.
May 19th General Assembly at Grand Parade to Discuss Legal Options Against City, Police Department
Submitted on May 14, 2012Halifax - On Saturday May 19, 2012, Occupy Nova Scotia will be holding a solidarity rally at Grand Parade Square in conjunction with the Global Re-occupation.
Study Proves Sex Workers are Safer with Indoor Work Spaces
Submitted on May 14, 2012A study has recently been released by the BC Centre For Excellence in HIV and the University of British Columbia
Israeli and Palestinian Protests
Submitted on May 14, 2012Mass Palestinian prisoner hunger strikes continue. Freedom, dignity, and respect for their rights are at issue. Strikers want horrific Israeli prison abuses ended.
Newly Discovered Homeland Security Files Show Feds Central to Occupy Crackdown
Submitted on May 14, 2012By Dave Lindorff - May 14th, 2012
The [Department of Homeland Security] says that the [National Operations Center] is “the primary conduit for the White House Situation Room” and that it also “facilitates information sharing and operational coordination with other federal, state, local, tribal, non-governmental operation centers and the private sector”...A better description for a fascist police state network could not be written.
FBI Wants Greater Surveillance Powers
Submitted on May 14, 2012Greater police state powers are coming.
Conflict, Repression and Canadian Mining and Oil Companies in Guatemala
Submitted on May 14, 2012By Dawn Paley - Media Co-op
I’ve barely been able to keep up with all of the resource conflicts going on in Guatemala over the past little while. A recent wave of protest/repression linked to mining and hydroelectric projects has escalated to the point where both sectors met together last week to try and deal with “attacks” against them.
Canada's Banks Received Tens of Billions in Government Support During 2008 Crisis
Submitted on May 14, 2012By Carl Bronski - 14 May 2012
Canada’s largest banks received $114 billion in liquidity support from the government of Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper and the United States Federal Reserve between 2008 and 2010, reveals a recent report from the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA)...[T]he CCPA report gives the lie to the assertions of the government and the corporate media that the Canadian banking system, unlike that of the United States, weathered the 2008 financial collapse due to its sound and prudent risk management practices.
More Than Half of Greek Police Officers Voted For Neo-Nazi Party
Submitted on May 14, 2012May 11, 2012 - Greek Reporter
More than half of all police officers in Greece voted for pro-Nazi party Golden Dawn in the elections of May 6. This is the disconcerting result of an analysis carried out by authoritative newspaper To Vima in several constituencies in Athens, where 5,000 police officers in service in the Greek capital also cast their ballot.
"Drones, Missiles and Gunships, Oh My!": Welcome to the 2012 London Olympics
Submitted on May 14, 2012By Dave Zirin - May 14, 2012
It’s not just the costs or the incredible invasion into people’s privacy. It’s the powers being given to police under the 2006 “London Olympic Games Act,” which empowers not only the army and police but also private security forces to deal with “security issues” using physical force. These “security issues” have been broadly defined to include everything from “terrorism” to peaceful protesters, to labor unions, to people selling bootleg Olympic products on the streets...
Arrest Orders Given Today for Gitxsan Unity Movement Against Enbridge
Submitted on May 14, 2012A Judge in Smithers this morning has issued arrest warrants for the Gitxsan United Chiefs and everyone involved in the Gitxsan Unity Movement blockade against the Enbridge Pipeline. RCMP are currently gathering downtown and the chiefs are getting ready to be arrested, this is a call out from them, for your support.
The Celebrity Money-Spinning Machine Detailed (Review)
Submitted on May 14, 2012By Phil Shannon - Green Left Weekly
Celebrity is just like printing your own money, says Jo Piazza in Celebrity Inc...Two rich, spoiled, talentless celebrity brats ― Paris Hilton and Kim Kardashian ― are experts at the fame game. Kick-started by family wealth, and propelled to fame through a steamy sex tape and reality TV, Hilton “earns” around US$10 million a year. The Kardashian family franchise raked in $65 million last year.
NATO's Global Crime Spree
Submitted on May 14, 2012By JOHN LaFORGE - Counterpunch
Wondering why anyone would confront NATO’s summit in Chicago this month? A look at some of its more well-known crimes might spark some indignation...Desecration of corpses, indiscriminate attacks, bombing of allied troops, torture of prisoners and unaccountable drone war are a few of NATO’s outrages in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Libya, Yemen and elsewhere.
Conflict, Repression and Canadian Mining & Oil Companies in Guatemala
Submitted on May 14, 2012I’ve barely been able to keep up with all of the resource conflicts going on in Guatemala over the past little while.
CKUT's Off the Hour: Support for Noé Arteaga
Submitted on May 14, 2012a solidarity demo is held for former temporary migrant worker facing deportation for standing up to his employer
CKUT reports on the latest about Ricardo Arteaga Santos - a former temporary foreign worker from Guatamela who worked for the company
Fabricating Lies to Wage War on Iran
Submitted on May 13, 2012Turning Iran into a reliable pro-Western puppet state is a long-sought US goal. All options are considered, including war.
Occupy's Liberation From Liberalism
Submitted on May 13, 2012By David Graeber - Monday 7 May 2012
During the first two months of the occupation, camps emerged in every city in America...Those months also saw a veritable invasion from liberal groups...Before long, occupiers realized the help was threatening to destroy them; meetings became bureaucratized as they turned into endless squabbles about money; paid organizers with agendas often very different than the original occupiers were infiltrating and trying to turn the movement towards much more conventional political or electoral campaigns.
April in Review
Submitted on May 13, 2012Waging Total War on Islam
Submitted on May 13, 2012Washington wages war on Islam at home and abroad.
4 Truly Orwellian Holidays in the U.S.
Submitted on May 13, 2012By Sarah Seltzer - AlterNet
Perhaps you were shocked this month when you read that years ago, thanks to its association with international workers and the anarchist movement, May Day was officially named Loyalty Day by the federal government to avoid the appearance of condoning dissent. It's creepy and Orwellian, but it's not that unusual...But this isn't a new American tradition. A simple search of other official national and state holidays shows that...we have some pretty appalling holidays on the books. Here are just a few.
Damascus Terror Bombing: Made in the USA
Submitted on May 13, 2012By Bill Van Auken - WSWS
“Our policy is to try to accelerate the arrival of that tipping point” at which the Syrian regime of Bashar al-Assad is toppled, Assistant Secretary of State Jeffrey Feltman explained last March to the US Senate’s foreign relations committee...Thursday saw the latest incarnation of this policy. The devastating car bombs that slaughtered 55 people and left nearly 400 more wounded in Damascus mark a new stage in the criminal imperialist campaign for regime change in Syria.
RCMP Reacts to Exposure of its Surveillance of BC Indigenous Protest
Submitted on May 13, 2012By Martin Lukacs - Media Co-op
In response to our Toronto Star article exposing a police unit that monitored Indigenous protest in BC, the RCMP issued a letter...to "First Nations Leaders and Communities"...They call the article "irresponsible," "sensationalist" and "not correct"...Sounds to me like damage control, but let's assess their concerns.
Why We Should Celebrate the Real Origins of Mother's Day
Submitted on May 13, 2012By Samantha McGavin - May 9, 2012
Across North America, Mother's Day is widely celebrated. Families pay tribute to women's contributions to the family with a nice meal, flowers, jewelry, clothing, even electronics. The National Retailers' Federation estimates that over $16 billion was spent in the U.S. last year to mark the day...But the day did not begin as a day of consumerism to celebrate mothers' contributions to the home and family; once upon a time it was a day meant to celebrate their contributions to society.
Emera's Profiteers
Submitted on May 12, 2012Reacting to the news that Nova Scotia Power's top executives got double-digit raises last year, at the same time that the private power monopoly has requested another power rate
Occupied Ottawa Plans for Park Squat Despite Threats from Mayor and Police
Submitted on May 12, 2012By Andy Crosby - May 11, 2012
Occupied Ottawa (formerly Occupy Ottawa) is set to re-take public space as the spring season heats up in the nation’s capital...[Ottawa] Mayor Jim Watson has already warned the local movement that if they occupy a public park the city will use police force to carry out an immediate eviction.
Radio CKUT : Victoriaville - Colère générale contre le Parti libéral
Submitted on May 12, 2012Un paysage sonore de la contestation qui a eu lieu lors du Congrès du parti libéral du Québec, à Victoriaville, une archive audio qui reflète une diversité de voix qui se sont unies lors de la manifestation populaire organisée par la Coalition opposée à la tarification et à la privatisation des services publics.
Theses on the Character Masks of Capital, the Social Classes and What Follows for Anti-Capitalist Politics
Submitted on May 12, 2012From: www.ruthlesscriticism.com
Capitalists fulfill their social obligation when they increase their profit, because the people and the common good, social responsibility, etc. have the precondition that the means for it must first be produced – capitalistically, of course. The workers have to realize that the whole order is a system of an interest hostile to them and that their own source of income is not property, but nothing other than the free form of a servitude to purposes alien to their own.
Activism for Justice
Submitted on May 12, 2012Activism has many forms. OWS protesters want long denied social change. Palestinians want to live free. So do Bahrainis.
"They Think We Are Animals:" How America's Police State Controls Black People
Submitted on May 12, 2012By Nicholas Powers - AlterNet
Racism in America's police force is linked to their role as keepers of the status quo in an unequal society. They enforce laws written by politicians on behalf of the wealthy -- laws that end up trapping poor and working-class people in desperate lives. Racial and sexual minorities, legal and illegal immigrants are seen as threats to the social order. When we protest the law and “occupy” a space we are beaten and arrested.
U.S. Claim of Iran-Al-Qaeda "Secret Deal" Is Discredited
Submitted on May 12, 2012By Gareth Porter - May 11th, 2012
The U.S. Treasury Department’s claim of a “secret deal” between Iran and Al-Qaeda, which had become a key argument by right-wing activists who support war against Iran, has been discredited by former intelligence officials in the wake of publication of documents from Osama bin Laden’s files revealing a high level of antagonism between Al-Qaeda and Iran.
RCMP Exposed: Police Spying on Opponents of Enbridge Pipeline, Documents Show
Submitted on May 12, 2012By Tim Groves and Martin Lukacs - May 10, 2012
The RCMP has been spying on a group of British Columbia First Nations whose vocal opposition to Enbridge's Northern Gateway pipeline has taken them to the company's annual shareholders meeting in Toronto, according to documents obtained through an access-to-information request...The documents show that a provincial RCMP unit has been closely tracking the potential for "acts of protest and civil disobedience" by the Yinka Dene Alliance...
U.S. Military College Prepared Senior Officers for "Hiroshima" Tactics Against Muslims
Submitted on May 12, 2012By Tom Eley - 12 May 2012
Senior officers at a top US war college have been instructed to prepare for “total war” against Muslims, including “taking war to a civilian population wherever necessary … the historical precedents of Dresden, Tokyo, Hiroshima, and Nagasaki being applicable,” according to leaked documents from course curriculum...“We have now come to understand that there is no such thing as ‘moderate Islam’...This barbaric ideology will no longer be tolerated. Islam must change or we will facilitate its self-destruction.”
An Occupier in Nova Scotia's Response to Margaret Wente
Submitted on May 12, 2012Editor's Note: John Thibeau wrote this piece in response to Margaret Wente's original Globe and Mail article, which can be found here.
Suicide Bombs Claim 55 Lives in Damascus
Submitted on May 11, 2012By Chris Marsden - 11 May 2012
Yesterday’s double suicide bombing in the al-Qazzaz suburb of Damascus claimed at least 55 lives and injured 370. The blasts occurred at 7:56 a.m. at a crowded intersection that is home to a military intelligence complex. The bombs, which detonated almost simultaneously, tore to pieces children on their way to school and incinerated people in their cars going to work in the Syrian capital.
RCMP reacts to exposure of its surveillance of BC Indigenous protest
Submitted on May 11, 2012In response to our Toronto Star article exposing a police unit that monitored Indigenous protest in BC, the RCMP issued a letter -- see below -- to "First Nations Leaders and Communities".
NATO Heads for Chicago
Submitted on May 11, 2012A $100 million NATO invasion is coming. Low intensity conflict may follow. The "City of Broad Shoulders" may get more than it bargained for.
Musings on the Twentieth Anniversary of the Westray Mine Disaster
Submitted on May 11, 2012By Heidi Mitton - Halifax Media Co-op
I was eight years old on May 9, 1992, when my father was summoned to the rescue team at the Westray mine...All day long, it seemed, the television was broadcasting the mine's damaged entrance and wreckage. I remember trying to see if we could catch a glimpse of my Dad. As children, we didn't understand the risk our father was facing. And we certainly didn't understand why, though my Dad would eventually make it home to his family, the twenty six men who had been underground when the methane gas explosion went off would not be going home to theirs.
Occupied Ottawa plans for park squat despite threats from mayor, police
Submitted on May 11, 2012Occupied Ottawa (formerly Occupy Ottawa) is set to re-take public space as the spring season heats up in the nation’s capital.
“On Saturday, May 12, Occupied Ottawa will be back in the streets and the parks, asserting that we have the right to protest, organize and resist in public space,” according to a press release.
UK Tories and Lib-Dems Insist No Retreat on Austerity in Queen’s Speech
Submitted on May 11, 2012By Julie Hyland - 11 May 2012
The coalition is currently implementing cuts worth £155 billion. With much of this yet to feed through, unemployment and poverty are already soaring and the UK has officially entered a double-dip recession...The government’s response is further austerity, stretching over a longer period — at least to 2017, beyond the time-span of this parliament.
Climate Change and the Corporate Scramble for the Arctic
Submitted on May 11, 2012By Krystalline Kraus - May 11, 2012
Regardless of the money to be made, the climate change in the circumpolar region has had and will continue to have devastating effects on the Indigenous peoples and their traditional territories. This is as true as climate change's potential for destruction to Caribbean, African and Pacific island nations. In all cases, the negative impacts will be felt the hardest by populations that are Indigenous, non-white or from developing nations.
Russian Spring?
Submitted on May 10, 2012Voices of Russia’s Progressive Opposition
Moscow - The following is the first in a four part series on the recent demonstrations in Russia. Albrecht Berg recently spent two months in Moscow, meeting with many radicals and interviewing four young activists.
Guantanamo Show Trial Begins
Submitted on May 10, 20129/11 suspects are already judged guilty by accusation.
Israel: Profile of a Police State
Submitted on May 10, 2012Palestinians suffer from daily Israeli state terror.
Moments of Excess: Essential Reading for Occupy and Quebec Student Activists (Review)
Submitted on May 10, 2012By Stefan Christoff - May 10, 2012
As a collective project, Moments of Excess is a meaningful read for readers in Quebec and across Canada, as students' sustain a collective uprising to fight for accessible education, a movement clearly inspired by anarchist models of horizontal activism deeply explored in the book...Moments of Excess also offers important reflections for participants in the grassroots Occupy movement for economic justice across North America, sparked by Occupy Wall Street this past fall.
Challenging Convictions: Survivors of Sexual Assault and Domestic Violence Writing in Solidarity with Prison Abolition
Submitted on May 10, 2012Like much prison abolition work, the call for this anthology comes from frustration and hope: frustration with organizers against sexual assault and domestic violence who treat the police as a universally available and good solution [and] frustration with prison abolitionists who only use “domestic violence” and “rape” as provocative examples...But, this project also shares the hope and worth of working toward building communities without prisons and without sexual violence. Most importantly, it is anchored in the belief that resisting prisons, domestic violence, and sexual assault are inseparable.
Canadian Anti-Masking Law Imminent
Submitted on May 10, 2012By Zig Zag - Vancouver Media Co-op
A new bill aimed at making the wearing of masks illegal during riots or “unlawful assemblies” is now closer to becoming law in Canada. Bill C-309, known as the Concealment of Identity Act, was introduced by Conservative MP Blake Richards in November 2011 in the wake of the Toronto G20 protests and the Vancouver Stanley Cup Riot...In effect, it will dramatically increase potential penalties for rioting and unlawful assembly while wearing a mask.
On Industry: Musings on the twentieth anniversary of the Westray Mine Disaster
Submitted on May 10, 2012By Heidi Mitton
Quebec Government Defends Police Assault on Striking Students, Plans Further Repression
Submitted on May 10, 2012By Eric Marquis - WSWS
Quebec’s Liberal government has fiercely defended the Quebec Provincial Police’s savage attack on a demonstration of striking students and their supporters last Friday...[T]he Quebec Provincial Police (QPP) brutally attacked the crowd with tear gas, truncheons and rubber bullets. Two young men suffered serious head trauma after being struck in the face by rubber bullets shot at close-range. One has lost an eye and the other remains in hospital in critical condition.
Thomas Friedman: Imperial Messenger (Review)
Submitted on May 10, 2012By David Wearing - Znet
Few single voices play a greater role in propagating the dogmas of neo-liberalism than Thomas Friedman, three-time Pulitzer Prize winner and leading columnist on international affairs for the world’s leading English-language newspaper, the New York Times...In engaging with Friedman’s body of work, and subjecting it to forensic critical analysis, Belén Fernández has produced a book that is sometimes entertaining, sometimes horrifying in what it exposes, always readable, always thought-provoking, and of clear political importance.
Strange Media Consensus on the Student Strike
Submitted on May 10, 2012Pundits, especially pundits in the rest of Canada (ROC), were already having a hard time making heads or tails of the Québec student strike, which had lasted 12 weeks by the time a “deal” had been struck between protesters and the government.
Why I Voted Against the Québec Government "Offer" and Continue to Strike
Submitted on May 10, 2012Since Saturday, some people have come up to me expressing their delight a strike that is finally over, now that a negotiated agreement has been made between the government of Québec and striking students. My reply is that “nothing can be further from the truth.” Here’s why.
The Importance of Dealing with Occupy's Misogyny Problem
Submitted on May 10, 2012By Sasha Wiley - rabble.ca
I don't think these men are inherently bad people, at all, but I do find it necessary to challenge their misogyny, rooted as it is in what amounts to a cycle of oppression; the transference of the hatred and contempt they feel the world has for them onto the women around them. They blame women for their feelings of alienation because when we can blame someone who has even less power than we do, it is easy to enact our anger without social reprisal.
We Stopped the Train
Submitted on May 10, 2012On May 5th, people around the world came together to connect some dots with their issues. In White Rock people from different walks of life got together to stop all coal transports trough their community, to protest mining, coal burning, the dust or just to support the struggling.
Sloughs of Despond
Submitted on May 10, 2012Fracking wastewater ponds languish in Hants County
HALIFAX: Hydraulic fracturing wastewater shown to contain high levels of radioactive contaminants has been sitting in two open containment pits in Hants County, Nova Scotia since 2007, the Media Co-op has learned.
A Freedom of Information request has also revealed that the water likely contains a slew of other chemicals, including known carcinogens and endocrine disruptors.
Canadian Anti-Masking Bill Imminent
Submitted on May 9, 2012Proposed Concealment of Identity Act Nears Approval
A new bill aimed at making the wearing of masks illegal during riots or “unlawful assemblies” is now closer to becoming law in Canada.
Israel's High Court Spurns Justice
Submitted on May 9, 2012Palestinians are denied all rights for praying to the wrong God.
Australian Labor Government Budget Marks Shift to Permanent Austerity
Submitted on May 9, 2012By Patrick O’Connor - WSWS
The budget brought down yesterday by the Australian Labor government of Prime Minister Julia Gillard has cut real government spending by 4.3 percent, the most significant reduction in the last 25 years...Labor has promised big business and finance capital that it will deliver no more budget deficits, regardless of economic shocks internationally and in Australia. Austerity is now firmly entrenched as the central principle of government economic policy.
Predatory Capitalism Failed
Submitted on May 9, 2012Corrupt dysfunctional systems eventually crumble under their own weight.
They Never Intended to Share It
Submitted on May 9, 2012By DAVID MACARAY - May 09, 2012
One of the criticisms you hear about organized labor is that unions are too adversarial in their dealings with management. They’re too belligerent. People tell you that instead of seeing themselves as management’s “enemy,” unions would be better served by seeing themselves as management’s partners, because, in effect, that’s what they are. Labor unions being regarded as partners? Working people being treated as equals? Wow, those are great ideas. In fact, they could be the basis of an excellent science fiction story.
No Accident: Westray 20 Years After
Submitted on May 9, 2012Law to criminally prosecute corporations is in place, but two decades later Canada is no safer a place to work
New Glasgow, Nova Scotia – An early morning ceremony to mark the twentieth anniversary of the Westray mine disaster today paid respect to the 26 coal miners killed in the coal dust-sparked methane blast.
Quebec Students Reject Miserable 'Offer' from Charest Government
Submitted on May 9, 2012By Richard Fidler - May 9, 2012
Quebec college and university students are now in the 13th week of their militant province-wide strike, while voting by overwhelming majorities to reject a government offer that met none of their key demands...After a 22-hour bargaining session involving ministers of the Charest government, university and college heads, and leaders of the major trade-union centrals, the student leaders agreed on May 6 to put the offer to a vote of their memberships without recommending acceptance.
Ask Your Doctor if This Big Pharma Scam is Right for You: The Dangers of a Drugged Up America
Submitted on May 9, 2012By Jim Hightower - AlterNet
One would assume that in a rich, medically advanced, health-conscious nation like ours, dicey decisions about whether to allow a particular pharmaceutical product into our bodies would be among the most rational we make--as determined by (1) the best science available, (2) the strict moral duty of medical purveyors to "First, do no harm," (3) good government regulation, and (4) the profession's fear of public reproach and legal punishment. One would, however, be wrong on all counts...
Will the Israeli Left Finally Awaken?
Submitted on May 9, 2012By JONATHAN COOK - Counterpunch
Last year’s social protests remained, in a great Israeli tradition, studiously “apolitical”, unlike their counterparts...in the United States and Europe...The demonstrators refused to draw any connection between the rapidly polarized economic situation...and either the right’s self-serving neo-liberal policies or the occupation that has channeled endless resources to the settlers and the security establishment...This summer Israel may finally get its own Occupy movement — one prepared to tackle the real occupation.
London to be Militarized for 2012 Olympics
Submitted on May 9, 2012By Richard Tyler - 9 May 2012
Billions of pounds are provided to the police, military and intelligence agencies to fund a mobilization of state forces on a scale never seen in London in peacetime. Once more, the “war on terror” is being used to accustom Londoners to seeing soldiers on the streets, warships on the Thames, and fighter aircraft in the skies.
CKUT's Off the Hour
Submitted on May 9, 2012Red Square Report for tuesday, may 8
Members of the CKUT news collective were in Victoriaville last Friday, where clashes broke out between student protestors and police in front of the Quebec Liberal Party convention. Here are sounds and interviews from that demo.
The Bullies That You Are Paying For: How the 'Christian' Right Is Making You Subsidize Their Hate
Submitted on May 9, 2012By Natalie Lochwin and Michael Laxer - May 9, 2012
We are all likely familiar with the war that our Conservative federal government is waging on organizations with which it does not see eye to eye...You may be less aware of what your tax dollars are subsidizing when it comes to the virulent anti-gay and anti-woman, anti-choice rhetoric that is coming from groups that either are, or claim to be, "charities" under tax law, usually by using religion as the front to circumvent the intent of the law.
All Charges Against Occupiers in Nova Scotia Have Been Dropped
Submitted on May 9, 2012Halifax - A victorious legal precedent was set for the Occupy movement in Nova Scotia. Today, May 9, 2012, in courtroom six, the third Crown prosecutor on the case, Mr. R.
European Electoral Postmortems
Submitted on May 8, 2012The morning after election Sunday, French and Greek voters have major issues unresolved. Austerity harmed people in both countries. Technocrats remain in charge. Odds remain long for change.
Pakistan: Free Baba Jan
Submitted on May 8, 2012Tuesday, May 8, 2012 - Green Left Weekly
For the past eight months Baba Jan Hunzai and four fellow activists have languished in various jails of Gilgit. Twice in this period he has been removed from jail and tortured by military and police agents...He and his colleagues have been charged under Pakistan’s Anti-Terrorism Ordinance. Baba Jan, however, is not a terrorist. He is a respected political activist of Gilgit-Baltistan...He is being held due to his activism in support of the oppressed of the region and must be released immediately.
Victoriaville: les balles de plastique sont identifiées
Submitted on May 8, 2012Ce billet à été écrit par le documentariste et membre de la Co-op média Moïse Marcoux-Chabot sur sa page Facebook mardi matin et fait depuis le tour des réseaux sociaux et d'internet.
The Crackdown on Occupy
Submitted on May 8, 2012By KEVIN CARSON - May 08, 2012
What we’re witnessing is the reality behind that Officer Friendly mask. This is what happens when the state perceives the general population as a threat, and drops the pretense that The Policeman is Your Friend...People in predominantly black and Hispanic inner city neighborhoods...have seen this ugly face for decades. But in recent months, the radical upsurge in police violence at Occupy demonstrations...have introduced the naked face of power to many in the white middle class public for the first time.
Armchair Warriors: Why Are Conservatives the Biggest Warmongers?
Submitted on May 8, 2012By Corey Robin - April 23, 2012
By now it seems self-evident that the neo-cons were drawn into Iraq for the sake of a grand idea...an idea of themselves as a brave and undaunted army of transgression. The gaze of the neo-cons...does not look outward nearly as much as it looks inward: at their restless need to prove themselves, to demonstrate that neither their imagination nor their actions will be constrained by anyone or anything — not even by the rules and norms they believe are their country’s gift to the world.
Fighting at every level: Sakura Saunders on mining and resistance
Submitted on May 8, 2012Anti-mining organizer Sakura Saunders speaks to CKUT about events last week in Toronto, where activists occupied a city park overnight before demonstrating at the site of the shareholders meeting for multinational mining giant Barrick Gold. CKUT spoke to Saunders on Monday, just after she had completed working on the 2012 Mining Injustice Conference.
U.S. Bombings Kills Dozens of Afghan Civilians
Submitted on May 8, 2012By Bill Van Auken - 8 May 2012
US bombardments claimed the lives of dozens of Afghan civilians over the weekend, including women and children, prompting a formal protest from Afghanistan’s President Hamid Karzai Monday, warning that such actions would render the pact he signed last week with US President Barack Obama “meaningless”.
The death of bling: interview with Testament from Test Their Logik on CKUT 90.3 FM
Submitted on May 8, 2012The hiphop duo Test their Logik have just released a new track with producer Young Jibwe, entitled "Bling Is Dead."
Hiphop artist and organizer Testament from Test Their Logik spoke on CKUT's Ecolibrium show about capitalism, the mining industry, and hiphop bling culture.
Organizer Arrested During Occupy Parliament Protest
Submitted on May 8, 2012By Eric Mark Do - Toronto Media Co-op
After a peaceful demonstration at Parliament Hill on May 5th, one of the protest's organizers...was arrested after taking to the streets. Derek Soberal, of Toronto, was detained overnight by Ottawa Police and released on $500 bail the next day. He faces charges of obstructing a police officer, being a member of an unlawful assembly, causing a disturbance, mischief, and breaching the peace. All five charges are criminal code offences.
On the History of the U.S. Economy in Decline
Submitted on May 8, 2012By NOAM CHOMSKY - May 08, 2012
For the general population...it’s been pretty harsh — and it could get worse. This could be a period of irreversible decline. For the 1% and even less — the .1% — it’s just fine. They are richer than ever, more powerful than ever, controlling the political system, disregarding the public. And if it can continue, as far as they’re concerned, sure, why not?
Mutated Dandelions in Nova Scotia [Video]
Submitted on May 7, 2012Adam 'MCA' Yauch: Our Ambassador From Atlantis
Submitted on May 7, 2012By Dave Zirin - May 6, 2012
In the ’60s they said, “Don’t trust anyone over 30.” When it comes to remembering Adam “MCA” Yauch, who died on May 4, I don’t trust anyone under 30. Adam Yauch and the Beastie Boys stood for more than just hip hop and their personal “sounds of science”...The Beasties were global ambassadors from a lost New York City since smothered under the weight of police violence and gentrification. It was a city that churned out hip hop and basketball legends with arrogant ease.
Riot Police Turn Bus into Victoriaville Jail Cell: A First Hand Account from the Québec Student Strike
Submitted on May 7, 2012By Stefan Christoff - Coop Média de Montréal
During the day, on the ground in Victoriaville, police forces seemed at times overwhelmed by both the size and the militancy of the protest...At the protest a number of de-arrests took place, protesters rushing Sûreté du Québec (SQ) police to break-up arrest attempts. SQ forces instead chose to arrest students under the cover of night, away from the media cameras...Just after 10pm, fully armed SQ forces boarded and took control of our Montreal-bound bus, announcing all were under arrest for “participating in a riot.”
FBI Entrapment Snares More Victims
Submitted on May 7, 2012More innocent young men are illegally entrapped. The latest plot involves five subjects allegedly planning to bomb a Cleveland area bridge.
Occupy Without Isms
Submitted on May 7, 2012By MARK TAYLOR-CANFIELD - Counterpunch
I don’t trust any “ism”!...Call me whatever you like, but you’re probably wrong...Ideologies are simply theories, many of which have never really been put into practice. Theoretically, many of them sound great. But these same ideologies are also responsible for a lot of mass suffering and destruction on this planet...Inevitably, those who claim to have the answer to all of the world’s problems are actually the ones who end up causing a lot more suffering by their proposed solutions.
Vancity, Enbridge under pressure from enviros at annual meetings this week
Submitted on May 7, 2012"Socially-responsible" credit union holds stock in tarsands companies
VICTORIA - A Vancouver Island environmental group is giving Vancity credit union a deadline to divest from Enbridge, the energy corporation responsible for planning the Northern Gateway pipeline from the Alberta tarsands to the BC coast.
Russian General Threatens Pre-Emptive Attack on U.S. Missile Defence System in Europe
Submitted on May 7, 2012By Clara Weiss - WSWS
On Wednesday, the Russian chief of the armed forces and deputy minister of defence, Nikolay Makarov, threatened pre-emptive attacks on missile-defence sites in Poland and other parts of eastern Europe...Makarov then gave a detailed description of the type of Russian short-range missiles that could target locations in eastern Europe. He complained that NATO has refused to offer any written guarantee that the missiles will not be directed against Russia and threatened to neutralize components of the defence system should NATO ignore Russia’s concerns.
George Carlin, Muse of the 99 Per Cent: The Legacy of a Truth Teller
Submitted on May 7, 2012By Nozomi Hayase - May 7th, 2012
George Carlin was one of America's most beloved stand-up comedians. Even after his death, his great performances have lived on in the memories of many. There is now a whole new generation discovering his work on the cyber-stage...George Carlin had a way of revealing the truth. With his gift of irreverent satire, he softened the truth of his biting social commentary with a unique humor. He could for a short time cut through America's collective consciousness and belief systems.
May 15-19: Vancouver Commemorates the Nakba, Calls for End to 64 Years of Israeli Ethnic Cleansing
Submitted on May 7, 2012If Elections Could Change Things, They'd Be Illegal
Submitted on May 7, 2012By Nikolas Kosmatopoulos - Znet
For a long time, the most insightful and inspiring quotes about the political situation in Greece have totally eclipsed the manifestos of technocrats and the reports of journalists. Hope and insights, endurance and critique, are more likely to be expressed through red and black graffiti than in the speeches made by experts.
Media Say 3% Lead Is a Tie
Submitted on May 7, 2012Grasping at stats to keep results "right"
A recent opinion survey (April 26-30) showed the Federal NDP outpolling the Conservatives 33%-30%, yet it was reported widely as a tie.
Canadian Press and Harris-Decima did the poll and spun the results.
Riot police turn bus into Victoriaville jail cell
Submitted on May 6, 2012A first hand account from the Québec student strike
Late on Friday evening Sûreté du Québec (SQ) sirens rang out in the night, the flashing lights of speeding patrol cars fast approaching our bus, transporting many teargas-soaked striking students, community activists and journalists from Victoriaville back to Montreal in the spring rain.
Britain Hosting Olympic Games in Age of Discontent
Submitted on May 6, 2012By Tim Dobson - Green Left Weekly
The 30th Olympic games will begin in July in London as Britain's Conservative-Liberal Democratic government imposes savage austerity measures on the public. The excitement of watching the world's sporting best compete is mixed with fears of social and economic upheaval.
Wait Till Chen Guangchen Goes on His First Occupy Demonstration
Submitted on May 6, 2012By ALEXANDER COCKBURN - May 4-6, 2012
[OWS activist David] Graeber says “the apparently systematic use of sexual assault against women protesters is new.” On March 17 there were numerous reported cases, and in later nightly evictions from Union Square, the practice became so systematic that at least one woman told Graeber her breasts were grabbed by five different police officers on a single night...The tactic appeared so abruptly, is so obviously a violation of any sort of police protocol or standard of legality, that it is hard to imagine it is anything but an intentional policy.
Halifax: Hundreds March for Murdered Gay Activist Raymond Taavel
Submitted on May 6, 2012May 6, 2012 - CBC News
Hundreds of people gathered in Halifax Sunday to pay tribute to Raymond Taavel, who was murdered in Halifax April 17..."It's important to get closure...It's been a really emotional reaction, everybody recognizes the tragedy of it. Everybody recognizes...the wonderful things that Raymond contributed to the community."
Occupy Wall Street's Act II
Submitted on May 6, 2012Grassroots activism takes time to grow. Broad-based participation is vital. Issues must be clearly defined. Leadership is needed. Major obstacles must be overcome. Avoiding being co-opted, diverted, divided, and/or subverted are key. So is staying the course because major struggles aren't won short-term.
Masked Protesters Could Face Jail and Fines Under Tory Bill
Submitted on May 6, 2012May 6, 2012 - CBC News
The Harper government is throwing its weight behind a private members' bill that would give police the power to arrest anyone hiding their identity during a riot or unlawful assembly...But some civil libertarians are concerned that the legislation will give police the power to break up peaceful protests, which are frequently filled with people in costumes, masks or even face paint that could be construed as concealing identity under the new law.
Who's Growing our Local Food?
Submitted on May 6, 2012Halifax - A group called Puppets Et Cetera! drew a curious crowd to watch a giant puppet parade and performance along the Halifax waterfront Saturday.
The Media Co-op is Hiring: Vancouver Local Editor
Submitted on May 6, 2012We're looking for a local editor to co-ordinate coverage and work with contributors and Media Co-op members in Vancouver.
The Media Co-op is hiring!
A War on Homelessness, or a War on the Homeless?
Submitted on May 6, 2012By Nick Cooper - Portland Occupier
On March 2, Hank Rush, the CEO of Houston’s Star of Hope Mission — who makes a quarter-million dollar salary for his work with the poor — joined several other homeless service leaders in signing a commentary...[giving] their support to a new law that would impose a $2,000 fine on unpaid volunteers for sharing home-cooked food with the needy in public...[T]he law would have been laughable if it weren’t a threat to the food supply of a vulnerable population.
Words as Tactical Weapons: Deep Green Resistance (Review)
Submitted on May 6, 2012By Zoe Blunt - Vancouver Media Co-op
Deep Green Resistance (DGR) made me a better strategist. If you’re an activist, then this book is for you...DGR dares environmental groups to focus on decisive tactics rather than mindless lobbying and silly stunts...“This book is about fighting back. And this book is about winning...The only measure of success is the health of the planet.”
8 Things to Know About America's Private Prison Industry
Submitted on May 6, 2012By Russ Baker - AlterNet
The privatization of prisons is yet another instance of how small-government advocates are driving more and more of our lives into the hands of companies whose only objective is to turn a profit...When public services like incarceration are handled as cheaply as possible, terrifying outcomes can result, including...unnecessary harm to minor offenders, the hardening of minor offenders into serious criminals, and calls for still more draconian law enforcement and punishment protocols, whose main justification is to keep those for-profit prisons filled.
Tickling the Dragon: Byron Sonne and the Crown's Prosecution
Submitted on May 5, 2012By Megan Kinch - Toronto Media Co-op
The case against Byron can only be understood in the larger context of G20 state security and the persecution of anti-g20 activists...Byron Sonne is one of the last major G20-related cases being contested before the court; the State is under pressure to go for the win, or at least to not have everything blow up in their face.
Stop Coal!
Submitted on May 5, 2012On Cinco de Mayo is the day when in 1862 the way-outnumbered Mexicans beat the best army of the world protecting their city Puebla from the colonizers. Today in the name of "connecting the dots" 350.org and stopcoal.ca hosted an event to stop all coal trains for a period of at least 24 hours and to remind people that we all have to become active in the fight for a better world.
Washington’s Human Rights Hypocrisy and the Case of Chen Guangcheng
Submitted on May 5, 2012By Bill Van Auken - WSWS
As the Chen Guangcheng incident revealed, the human rights issue is entirely subordinate to US imperialist interests, to be turned on and off at will, with methods of abuse and repression denounced in those countries targeted as Washington’s adversaries...and supported in those regarded as its client states...[T]he human rights crusade is part racket, part provocation, reeking from head to toe with hypocrisy.
Israel Toughens Prison Harshness
Submitted on May 5, 2012Palestinians throughout the Territories face daily state terror. Prisoners in Israel's gulag are worst off. Prison harshness just increased.
Bored But Not Broken: A Series of Unfortunate Events
Submitted on May 5, 2012By Mandy Hiscocks - May 5, 2012
The past few days have been the worst yet. Since I got here, I've been putting a lot of effort into a few specific things: my health, a daily routine, responding to mail, working on the blog and other projects. Those things have been keeping me pretty grounded and okay. And now, one by one, they have all been dealt some pretty serious blows.
New York Times Publishes Hate Ad
Submitted on May 5, 2012New York Times articles, commentaries, and editorials turn a blind eye to egregious violations of international laws, norms and standards. Endorsing wrong over right is policy. On April 24, a glaring example was published. The Times shares responsibility with David Horowitz's Freedom Center. It accused the Global Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement of promoting hate. It claimed it supports murdering Jewish children.
U.S. Should Return Stolen Land to Indian Tribes, Says United Nations
Submitted on May 5, 2012By Chris McGreal - The Guardian
A United Nations investigator probing discrimination against Native Americans has called on the US government to return some of the land stolen from Indian tribes as a step toward combating continuing and systemic racial discrimination...James Anaya, the UN special rapporteur on the rights of indigenous peoples, said no member of the US Congress would meet him as he investigated the part played by the government in the considerable difficulties faced by Indian tribes.
Shifting the Burden to the 99 Per Cent: Budget Axe Falls on Retirement Supports
Submitted on May 5, 2012By Alex Hemingway - The Dominion
Cuts to retirement income will push more seniors into low-income status, and degrade the quality of life of others, particularly at a time when employment-based pensions are increasingly scarce and also facing cuts...The burden of the [Old Age Security] cuts...will be borne disproportionately by low-income seniors, as well as workers in...physically demanding or stressful occupations (for whom delayed retirement is especially burdensome).
Mississippi Twins Arrested for Videotaping Police from their Balcony
Submitted on May 5, 2012By Muriel Kane - Friday, May 4, 2012
As nineteen year old Shanell Madison of Pearl, Mississippi tells it, she and her twin brother Terrell were sitting peacefully on the balcony of their apartment on Tuesday when they heard shots from a police shootout below. Then Terrell began recording the scene with his cellphone, and that brought the police bursting into the apartment to arrest both of them...“The police came up here after they took his phone...They slammed him down and arrested him, and I’m like ‘Why are y’all arresting him’, and then they grabbed me and slammed me also and arrested me.”
Beyond the Secret Service Scandal in Colombia
Submitted on May 5, 2012By Noam Chomsky - Znet
Though sidelined by the Secret Service scandal, last month’s Summit of the Americas in Cartagena, Colombia, was an event of considerable significance. There are three major reasons: Cuba, the drug war and the isolation of the United States...The meetings ended with no agreement because of U.S. opposition on those items...Continued U.S. obstructionism may well lead to the displacement of the Organization of American States by the newly-formed Community of Latin American and Caribbean States, from which the United States and Canada are excluded.
Australia: In Advance of Budget, Right-Wing MP Demands End to "Age of Entitlement"
Submitted on May 5, 2012By Patrick O’Connor - 5 May 2012
An extraordinary speech delivered last month by Liberal Party shadow treasurer Joe Hockey, “The End of the Age of Entitlement”, outlined the program that finance capital is demanding be implemented in Australia, in line with the savage austerity measures imposed against the working class in Europe and the US...Hockey bluntly elaborated what has...largely been the subject of behind closed door discussion in ruling circles — that all welfare programs, pensions, universal public health and education systems, and the public provision of services ranging from transportation to housing have to be abolished.
What the Rest of Canada Doesn't Understand About Quebec's Student Movement
Submitted on May 5, 2012By Jesse Rosenfeld - May 4, 2012
Quebecers are just plain more aspirational when it comes to social rights...In the nightly mass demonstrations of the past week, one feels the frustration of a generation that is seeing the promises of social security their parents benefited from being taken away.
San José del Progreso Residents Plan Mine Occupation
Submitted on May 4, 2012Oaxacan groups promise to shut down Fortuna Silver's mine starting Monday
OAXACA, MEXICO-Jorge Sánchez, representative of the villages in resistance in the Ocotlan Valley, announced the indefinite takeover of the mine in San José del Progreso beginning Monday, May 7th at an early hour, this comes after three years of conflict with the Cuzcatlán mining company (Trans. note: Cuzcatlán is a subsidiariy of Vancouver based Fortuna Silver).
Choice Not on Ballot in French Election
Submitted on May 4, 2012In Sunday's French election, business as usual will win.
Psychiatric Survivors Prepare to Occupy Canada's Largest Psychiatric Facility
Submitted on May 4, 2012By John Bonnar - May 5, 2012
On Sunday May 6 at 1pm, the Coalition Against Psychiatric Assault (CAPA) is organizing Occupy Psychiatry, a non-violent action during which survivors and activists will occupy the front grounds of the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health [which]...is Canada's largest mental health and addiction teaching hospital.
Sullying the Holocaust
Submitted on May 4, 2012By MAIREAD MAGUIRE - Counterpunch Weekend Edition
...[T]he reality on the ground is that whilst Israel’s calculated colonization of Palestine continues apace its attendant violations of civil, political, social, economic and cultural rights will only increase. In this situation the calls for [Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions] will not diminish but will grow, and scurrilous attempts to defend injustice and silence people of conscience by sowing fear and defamation will ultimately not only fail but are themselves extremely dangerous.
Fascism in Canada: Are Our Politicians in Oversight of Our Spy Agency (CSIS), or is CSIS in Oversight of Them?
Submitted on May 4, 2012Something has gone very wrong with our secret security/intelligence apparatus such as CSIS in Canada. They are out of control and our politicians seem too scared of them to ensure proper oversight. When these organizations go rogue, all of our liberties are threatened – this is creeping fascism.
The Suicide of NFL Player Junior Seau
Submitted on May 4, 2012By Tom Eley - 4 May 2012
Former National Football League (NFL) star Junior Seau was found dead from an evident self-inflicted gunshot wound to the chest in his southern California home on Wednesday morning. Oceanside, California police are investigating the death as a suicide...A legendary player in his prime, Seau was a six-foot-three-inch, 250-pound linebacker who was a twelve-time Pro Bowler and a ten-time All-Pro, the highest awards bestowed on National Football League players.
Climate Change and the Arctic: The Uses of the Colonial Imagination
Submitted on May 4, 2012By Krystalline Kraus - rabble.ca
When Canadians consider the impact of climate change...we think the effects of global warming will mostly affect the northern part of our country, which is home to many isolated First Nation communities...[T]he refrain is that the land "up there" is barren and uninhabitable, that there is no one important or influential enough to care about anyway, so who cares if global warming impacts them as long it doesn't affect the micro climates around Vancouver, Ottawa or Toronto?
Mayday- Il Pleut des Etudiants, Premier de Mai - Montreal
Submitted on May 4, 2012Leftist community unite on May Day at VAG
Submitted on May 3, 2012Despite the blowing winds on May Day, union leaders and activists chanted and waved their banners in front of the Vancouver Art Gallery on Tuesday. They all had their own calls and campaigns, but there were also a common thread of the need for unity among the speeches.
Afghanistan: Permanent Occupation Planned
Submitted on May 3, 2012Replicating post-WW II occupations is planned. Sixty-seven years after war's end, US troops still occupy Germany, Japan and Korea. They're part of America's growing empire of bases.
Tickling the Dragon: Byron Sonne and Crown Prosecution
Submitted on May 3, 2012Commentary
Back on November 4th, 2009, Bryon Sonne wrote a group email to Toronto hacker collective hacklab titled “Tickling the Dragon”, in which he wrote, “I want to test the system”.
What It's Like When the NYPD Raids Your Apartment At Dawn - Because Your Roommate is in Occupy
Submitted on May 3, 2012By Sarah Seltzer - AlterNet
"People should feel that they can protest without fear of someone busting down their door and taking them away. It was overkill...The word should be out that the [New York Police Department] is using these tactics..."
Musqueam set up camp at condo site after infant graves desecrated
Submitted on May 3, 2012MARPOLE - The Musqueam First Nation has vowed to shut down condo construction to protect a major ancient burial site at the Marpole Midden. Infant graves were unearthed by heavy excavating equipment at the Vancouver location this week.
May Day in Montreal
Submitted on May 3, 2012You’ve probably heard that there is a massive mobilization happening throughout Quebec, which began about 12 weeks ago. But unless you’re keen, or francophone, you probably haven’t heard much about it. This short article is my attempt to share a bit of what I’ve learned about the situation after spending two days, including May Day, in Montreal.
U.S.-Afghan Pact Won't End War – or Special Forces Night Raids
Submitted on May 3, 2012By Gareth Porter - May 3rd, 2012
...[T]he only substantive agreement reached between the U.S. and Afghanistan...has been to allow powerful U.S. Special Operations Forces (SOF) to continue to carry out the unilateral night raids on private homes that are universally hated in the Pashtun zones of Afghanistan...[T]he actual text of the agreement and of the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on night raids included in it...will not end the U.S. war in Afghanistan, nor will they give [Afghanistan] control over night raids.
Achuar Voices Part Two
Submitted on May 3, 2012An Achuar Woman Speaks and Q&A
Achuar Voices Part 2 Transcript
Translated by Amazon Watch Peru Program Coordinator, Gregor MacLennan
Entrapment, Snatch Squads and Probation Holds
Submitted on May 3, 2012By MIKE KING - May 03, 2012
When the FBI sends agents [to Occupy] talking about blowing up bridges they will be hard pressed to find someone stupid enough to work with them. But they have a very big bag of tricks we need to educate ourselves about. Occupy is not going to stop. The State won’t stop trying to kill it either. The outcome of this death match is unknown, but the terrain of state repression is becoming quite clear.
BC Liberals and Developer Tighten Grip on Housing Construction in Vancouver
Submitted on May 3, 2012By Sean Antrim - May 3, 2012
This past Friday afternoon it was announced that real estate tycoon Bob Rennie...would be appointed as [Commissioner] of BC Housing...Some journalists noted that the appointment of Rennie was patronage for his support of Christy Clark in her leadership bid...He has contributed heavily to BC Liberal campaigns and often boasts of maintaining close contact with...higher ups in the current government.
Manif nocturne contre la hausse à Québec – Interviews sur l'orientation du mouvement étudiant
Submitted on May 3, 20122 mai 2012 à Québec - Media reseauforum.org
Depuis maintenant une semaine, le mouvement étudiant à Québec manifeste tous les jours. Ce sont désormais des manifestations dites nocturnes, vers 20 h où il y a peu de trafic et bien des gens à la maison.
Considérant l'impasse politique et ce qui ressemble à un début de conflit social, nous avons demandé à cinq personnes, participant à cette manifestation, quelle orientation le mouvement étudiant devrait-il adopter.
Ce mercredi 2 mai, nous estimons que 350 personnes se sont jointes à cette marche nocturne contre la hausse des frais de scolarité. La foule s'est réunie à l'Assemblée Nationale pour ensuite marcher un long trajet passant par René-Lévesque, la Grande Allée, traversant un quartier de Sillery, pour finalement revenir à l'Assemblée nationale. Tout le long du trajet, des gens sortaient sur leur balcon pour saluer cette bruyante marche.
Chaotic Insurrection Ensemble at May Day!
Submitted on May 2, 2012recording of the Chaotic Insurrection Ensemble playing at Montreal May Day 2012!
Listen to a recording of the Chaotic Insurrection Ensemble playing at the Montreal May Day protest in 2012. Thousands joined the annual anti-capitalist May Day protest in downtown Montreal withint he context of the ongoing Quebec student strike that has now entered its twelveth week.
For more information on the 2012 anti-capitalist May Day march visit http://www.clac-montreal.net/
May Day Protests for Justice
Submitted on May 2, 2012Annually on May 1 in dozens of countries worldwide, labor commemorates International Workers Day. It's now called May Day.
From Peaceful Protest to Police Brutality: What Really Happened at the Montréal May Day Protest?
Submitted on May 2, 2012By Andrew Gavin Marshall - Media Co-op
It is clear that the State...[is] clamping down on students and protesters in order to quiet and crush the student strike and the emerging social movement which is being referred to as the 'Maple Spring'. The national media, for its part, has decided to demonize the students, the protesters, and the people...Having been at the protest, however, I must question whether these so-called "journalists" were at the same event, because we witnessed two entirely different scenarios.
For Israel, Punishing Palestinians is Not Enough
Submitted on May 2, 2012By AMIRA HASS - May 02, 2012
Nearly 2,000 inmates in the Nafha, Ashkelon, Gilboa and other prisons around Israel have been on hunger strike for two weeks. The very fact of their decision to refuse food and their willingness to risk being punished by the authorities stands as a reminder of their humanity...The great majority of Israelis label all incarcerated Palestinians as conscienceless murderers or common terrorists...They have little interest in acts of personal or collective courage on the part of Palestinian detainees that serve as reminders that they are human beings.
A (Pussy) Riot of Our Own: What the Russian Punks Can Teach Us About Music and Protest
Submitted on May 2, 2012By Alexander Billet - May 2nd, 2012
Just as Pussy Riot’s own actions were inspired by an amalgam of Egyptian protest, western riot grrrl and their own rich traditions of resistance, so do we have something to learn from them. Namely, that “protest music” isn’t merely the stuff of history books or passive hippies. It can be brash, it can be in your face and on the streets. It can be a battering ram, widening the cracks in the edifice for all to see. Putin and others like him have every reason to be nervous about that. We too would do well to pay attention.
Whitewashing Mass Murder
Submitted on May 2, 2012Israel killed 29 members of one Palestinian family in cold blood.
The Québec Student Strike: From ‘Maple Spring’ to Summer Rebellion?
Submitted on May 2, 2012Tuition Hikes, Student Strikes, Police Batons, and Teargas Bombs
The Québec Student Strike: From ‘Maple Spring’ to Summer Rebellion?
Tuition Hikes, Student Strikes, Police Batons, and Teargas Bombs
By: Andrew Gavin Marshall
The following is Part 6 of the series, “Class War and the College Crisis.”
U.S. Deploys F-22 Fighter Jets in Threat to Iran
Submitted on May 2, 2012By Bill Van Auken - 2 May 2012
The Pentagon has dispatched F-22 Raptors, the most advanced American warplanes, to the United Arab Emirates in a provocative escalation of US war threats against Iran...The dispatch of these advanced weapons systems to the UAE marks a further buildup toward war against Iran under conditions in which Washington has already dispatched two aircraft carrier battle groups to the region.
Toronto Conference Highlights Global Resistance to Canadian Mining
Submitted on May 2, 2012By Rebecca Bartel - rabble.ca
Over 60 per cent of the world's mining corporations are registered on the Toronto Stock Exchange and the CEOs and chairmen of these companies are among the most influential players in Canadian foreign policy.
Cop Who Beat Blind Doctor Given 5 Months Jail, but Appeals Sentence and Gets Bail
Submitted on May 2, 2012May 2, 2012 - CBC News
A judge sentenced Windsor Police Det. David Van Buskirk to five months in jail Wednesday after he pleaded guilty to assault causing bodily harm last week...Van Buskirk attacked Dr. Tyceer Abouhassan, who is legally blind, in a parking lot two years ago in Windsor, Ontario...Abouhassan suffered a broken nose, bruised ribs, a torn eyelid and detached retina in the beating.
Arab Spring Intel docs show Canada's concern over refugees
Submitted on May 2, 2012In the early days of the Arab Spring the Canada Border Service Agency(CBSA) created a series of Intelligence Bulletins on popular unrest in the Middle East and the Maghreb focused on the potential for refugee claims that might ensue.
Police Assault and Arrests at May Day Re-Occupation
Submitted on May 2, 2012What Really Happened at the Montréal May Day Protest?
Submitted on May 2, 2012From Peaceful Protest to Police Brutality
On May 1, 2012, thousands of students and other protesters took to the streets for the Anti-Capitalist rally in downtown Montréal.
May Day takes Toronto
Submitted on May 1, 2012annual workers' rights celebration spills into streets throughout day, night
One of the most successful May Day demonstrations in years took place earlier today, as large numbers filled the streets of Toronto in the annual festival of workers rights that is celebrated worldwide.
Happy May Day Comrade, We've been spied on - Open Source Surveillance by the G20ISU-JIG
Submitted on May 1, 2012Open Source in intelligence circles refers to things that are volunteered on the Internet. This includes blog posts such as this one, news stories like what has been featured on the Media Coop website, things posted on ainfos, Twitter, Facebook and anything else that can be found on the internet. The Open Source surveillance can then be used by the JIG to pick their targets.
Montreal May Day 2012 In Pictures
Submitted on May 1, 2012May Day rally against capitalism in Montreal. More than 100 were arrested. The Black Bloc contingent was very large.
Abdulhadi Alkhawaja Painfully Force-Fed
Submitted on May 1, 2012May 1 marks Abdulhadi Alkhawaja's 83rd day hunger striking. At issue is justice denied him and all Bahrainis. One of the world's most ruthless dictatorships terrorizes them. They resist courageously. Abdulhadi inspires them. He's now painfully force-fed against his will.
Capitalism Can (Not) be Criticized Like This: Profit: Good – Too Much Profit: Bad
Submitted on May 1, 2012Translated from GegenStandpunkt broadcast on Radio Lora, Munich: April 16, 2012
Since capitalism has existed, there's been a lot of discontent with it. Today, for example, the “Occupy” movement and the “indignados” in Europe criticize capitalism because its “excesses” surely scream to the sky. It hasn't gone unnoticed that an ever-growing wealth of a few faces an equally ever-growing poverty of others. Also not unnoticed is the notorious insecurity of existence which for many people means that just one unlucky circumstance...becomes a personal disaster.
Nuclear Hypocrisy, Canadian Unrest, WW3 Foretold and Other News [Video]
Submitted on May 1, 2012by Amir Alwani
PotentNews.com
April 30, 2012
Episode 6 of the Potent News Blast covers the demonization of Iran, Canada's approval of torture, the fraud of "green" homes, and much more.
Police Assault Protesting Students in Mexico
Submitted on May 1, 2012By Rafael Azul - 1 May 2012
Hundreds of police attacked students demanding more resources for education...in Morelia, Mexico. The police occupied three student hostels...and brutally assaulted the protesters...Behind the police crackdown is a wholesale attack on the right of Mexico’s working class and rural students to an education.
May Day March Reclaims Halifax Streets
Submitted on May 1, 2012Halifax - About 200 May Day marchers took to the streets of downtown Halifax today, meandering their way through a route that was part planned and part impromptu.
Police State Harshness
Submitted on May 1, 2012CISPA is about destroying personal freedom, not cyber-security.
CKUT Radio: Howard Zinn on the History of Mayday
Submitted on May 1, 2012Interview with the late historian Howard Zinn on the anarchist roots of Mayday
Kanonhstaton April 28 Speaker; Ruby Montour
Submitted on May 1, 2012Atlantic Canadians Agree: Inequality is a Public Issue
Submitted on May 1, 2012Mayday Toronto
Submitted on May 1, 2012Coverage from Mayday Events Was Updated Live
Watch this page for live coverage of Mayday events as they happen from the Toronto Media Co-op. Also watch our main twitter feed @TOmediacoop as well as our contributers twitter feeds @q_e_d , @hackj0b, , @meganysta
CKUT Tuesday morning after: Mayday special
Submitted on May 1, 2012Interview with Marie-Eve Lamy of Montreal Anti-Capitalist Convergence (CLAC)
Marie-Eve Lamy is a member of the Montreal Anti-Capitalist Convergence (CLAC). For
the last 5 years, CLAC has organized anti-capitalist Mayday marches on May 1st. They
will be taking to the streets again for Mayday 2012. A full text for the callout can
be found here:
http://www.clac-montreal.net/en/mayday2012
Dragon Root Radio: Mayday special
Submitted on May 1, 2012Interview with Giuliana Fumagalli of the Canadian Union of Postal Workers
Giuliana Fumagalli is a Montreal-based activist, postal worker, and member of the
Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW). Here, she speaks on CKUT's Dragon Root
Radio about the labour movement, her reflections on last summer's postal worker
strike, solidarity between students and workers, and also the importance of women in
the labour movement.
Six Nations walk for Peace, Respect, and Friendship: Photo Essay
Submitted on April 30, 2012The Purpose of Education: Social Uplift or Social Control?
Submitted on April 30, 2012By Andrew Gavin Marshall
The emergence and spread of education...is generally considered to be the result of the Enlightenment ideals and the emergence of democracies. The idea was that education was developed and designed for the purpose of enlightening individuals, spreading literacy and fostering intellectual pursuits which would yield for the benefit of the whole of society, a benevolent institution. Indeed, there are these elements to the history of education; but like with most things, there are other, deeper, elements to the story. So it begs the question: what is the purpose of education?
What's Next for Libya?
Submitted on April 30, 2012NATO's "responsibility to protect" (R2P) was subterfuge to wage war. Months of terror bombing left Libya a channel house. Africa's most developed country was ravaged, not liberated. Protracted struggle continues. Expect it to persist for years.
U.S. and Allies Ramp Up Plans for Military Intervention in Syria
Submitted on April 30, 2012By Chris Marsden - 30 April 2012
Accusations that the Syrian government is either wholly or mainly responsible for breaches of the United Nations’ ceasefire are meant to provide a pretext for military intervention by the imperialist powers and their proxies...The US and European media, meanwhile, is acting as a barely concealed propaganda instrument tasked with preparing public opinion for the latest criminal adventure in the Middle East — a war for regime change in Syria to follow those waged in Libya, Iraq and Afghanistan.
Reportback on March for Peace, Respect and Friendship
Submitted on April 30, 2012We are just a few of the hundreds of non-native allies who spent several hours in Kanonhstaton, the protected place, celebrating the successful march through Caledonia. It has been six years since this land was reclaimed by Haudenosaunee land defenders, protected from becoming yet another numbing expanse of sprawl. As the sun set, we watched Red-Wing Blackbirds, geese, and ducks visit the pond, and marveled at how much health these meadows have been able to build up after being scraped bare for development six years ago.
Want to Understand the 1992 Los Angeles Riots? Start with the 1984 LA Olympics
Submitted on April 30, 2012By Dave Zirin - April 30, 2012
Institutional support of police brutality against a workforce either unemployed or limited to service jobs was the flammable mix saturating the streets of Los Angeles, which caught fire when Rodney King hit the nightly news...There are lessons here, if we are willing to learn them. For cities like London and Rio, the host cities of the next two Olympic Games, attack the working poor of your country in the name of “Olympic security” at your own peril.
Washington and Israel Threaten Humanity
Submitted on April 30, 2012So does NATO. It's America's imperial tool. An alliance for war, not peace, enemies were invented post-Soviet Russia.
May Day: Immigrant Rights Are Workers' Rights
Submitted on April 30, 2012By Syed Hussan, Mary-Elizabeth Dill and Abeer Majeed - rabble.ca
In the midst of increasingly brazen, concerted attacks here in Canada and globally under governments pushing austerity agendas, it becomes absolutely imperative that we understand the struggle for migrant rights as a struggle for worker rights. Just as in Haymarket and Winnipeg, a concerted response to austerity will have to be rooted in im/migrant communities.
Palestinian Rights Activism Endangered
Submitted on April 30, 2012In America, Israel, Europe and elsewhere, supporting Palestinian rights publicly is dangerous.
May Pitches for Pay!
Submitted on April 30, 2012As we do every month, in May we will pay two contributors for news features to be published in The Dominion. We prioritize solutions-oriented news pieces with a Canadian angle, including photo essays and video pitches.
Pitches are welcome from anyone; priority for payment goes to those who have previously contributed.
La mine à ciel ouvert de Malartic
Submitted on April 30, 2012ou la déchirure du tissu social d'une ville
La 3e édition du colloque international "Plan Nord, plans Sud" a eu lieu à l'U.Q.À.M., ce weekend. En conférence d'ouverture, les agissements de la compagnie Osisko, à la mine de Malartic (Québec) et de Famatina (Argentine), ont été passés sous la loupe.
Ontario NDP Enables Savage Austerity Budget
Submitted on April 30, 2012By Carl Bronski - WSWS
This past Tuesday...the Ontario New Democratic Party (ONDP) sat passively in their parliamentary seats and abstained from voting on one of the most vicious, anti-worker budgets ever tabled in the provincial legislature. Holding the balance of power in a minority parliament, the ONDP had the option of defeating what party leader Andrea Horwath herself described as a “profoundly flawed” budget. Instead, Horwath and her NDP provided new life to the big-business Liberal government of Premier Dalton McGuinty and allowed it to enact a brutal austerity budget that attacks public services, jobs, worker's living standards and pensions.
Educating the RCMP on the Constitution of Canada
Submitted on April 30, 2012May Call for Pitches
Submitted on April 30, 2012Halifax Media Co-op seeks stories
The Halifax Media Co-op is seeking pitches for its website and a newly expanded May Tide.
CKUT's Off the Hour: RAPSIM demo coverage
Submitted on April 30, 2012An interview with Pierre Gaudreault and NDP MP Marjolaine Boutin-Sweet
manif nocturne / job dans le nord - samedi le 28 avril, 2012
Submitted on April 29, 2012Montréal, Canada - printemps érable
Montréal - On estime que plus de 10,000 personnes étaient dans la rue pour bloquer l'hausse des frais de scolarité samedi soir - le cinquième nuit consécutive des manifs.
Montage et invertiews par David K. avec David T. et Maude B.
Photographie par Neal Rockwell http://montreal.mediacoop.ca/photo/student-night-march-april-28-2012/10688
Detained Refugee Children Suffer Behind Bars
Submitted on April 29, 2012By Jay Fletcher - Green Left Weekly
About eight of the group are under 12. Some are siblings and cousins, others are completely alone. They live in cramped motel-style rooms where some have to sleep on a mattress on the floor, with a tiny bathroom, one desk and a mini-fridge. Meals are shared in a huge mess hall and Serco guards are stationed around every corner.
Drone Warfare in Yemen
Submitted on April 29, 2012Drone pilots operate computer keyboards and multiple monitors. Faceless enemies nearby or half a world away are attacked. Virtual war kills like sport. At day's end, home-based operators head there for dinner, relaxation, family time, then a good night sleep before another day guiding weapons with joysticks and monitors like computer games.
Chilean Supreme Court Red Lights Goldcorp Mine
Submitted on April 29, 2012Indigenous community leader celebrates ruling, promises continued opposition
On Friday, the Chilean Supreme Court ratified a lower court ruling that rendered Goldcorp's environmental assessment for the El Morro mine null, due to irregularities including the company's failure to properly consult with the Diaguita Huascoaltinos Indigenous and Agricultural Community, whose lands would be destroyed if the mine is bu
May Day (Chomsky)
Submitted on April 29, 2012By Noam Chomsky - Znet
People seem to know about May Day everywhere except where it began, here in the United States of America. That’s because those in power have done everything they can to erase its real meaning...Today, there is a renewed awareness, energized by the Occupy movement’s organizing, around May Day, and its relevance for reform and perhaps eventual revolution.
Student Night March, April 28, 2012
Submitted on April 29, 2012Saturday’s night march was slightly different from other night marches that took place this week in that the police did not break it up with tear gas, flash-bang grenades or pepper-spray. Near Place Des Arts the police public address truck ordered protestors to walk only in the direction of traffic and to turn onto Bleury Street, which they ignored.
UC Davis Students and Faculty Face Prison Time for Peaceful Protest Against Bank
Submitted on April 29, 2012By Mela Heestand - April 27, 2012
...[O]n March 29...the 11 students and 1 professor involved in the sit-in received orders to appear at Yolo County Superior Court. At the request of the UC Davis administration, District Attorney Jeff Reisig is charging the so-called Davis Dozen with 20 counts each of obstructing movement in a public place, and one count of conspiracy. If convicted, the protesters could each face up to 11 years each in prison, and $1 million in damages. The UC Davis administration is sending a clear message to protesters: dissent will not be tolerated.
Russia Prepares for a U.S.-Israeli Military Strike Against Iran
Submitted on April 29, 2012By Clara Weiss - 28 April 2012
Russia has undertaken intensive preparations during the past few months for a possible military strike by Israel and the United States on Iran. According to recent reports, the Russian General Staff expects a war against Iran this summer, with enormous repercussions for not only the Middle East but also the Caucasus...Experts believe that Russia would support Tehran in the event of war, at least on a military-technical level.
'Israel’s Gone Way Beyond Apartheid'
Submitted on April 29, 2012By Jeff Halper and Frank Barat - April 29, 2012
"I think what’s coming down the pipeline is that Israel today has basically finished this. We’ve gone beyond the occupation. The Palestinians have been pacified and from Israel’s point of view the whole situation has been normalized. Netanyahu went to Washington to meet with Obama last month. When he came back his adviser...said 'this is the first time in memory that an Israeli Prime Minister met with a US president and that the Palestinian issue was not even mentioned, it never came out.'"
- Jeff Halper, long-time Israeli peace activist, author and director of the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions (ICAHD)
The Empire vs. Iran (and Syria): A New World War for a New World Order?
Submitted on April 29, 2012By Jooneed Khan - April 27, 2012
Confronted with a declining World Order it can no longer control, does the West want to re-assert its will through a new world war, which this time would be really global?...A terrifying scenario emerges from the ceaseless escalation of pressures and threats against Syria and Iran, pitting, for the first time since the NATO-OECD Empire won the Cold War two decades ago, the Western trio of the UN veto club (U.S., U.K., France) against its non-Western duo (Russia and China).
Safety Within Social Movements Is Everyone's Responsibility
Submitted on April 29, 2012Unceded Coast Salish Territories
March/Rally in Solidarity with Six Nations Reclamation - April 28
Submitted on April 28, 2012A collection of photos from the solidarity march and rally to commemorate the anniversary of the occupation of the Douglas Creek Estates development in Caledonia. Demonstrators from across Ontario came together to show their support for the struggles of the Six Nations.
Dying to Live Free
Submitted on April 28, 2012Israel's prison gulag is one of the world's most hellish. Palestinians held suffer horrifically. Inflicting pain and suffering is official Israeli policy. Rule of law principles are spurned.
The Ontario Court of Appeal and the Bedford Decision: You Mean, It's OK if It's Hidden?
Submitted on April 28, 2012The Bedford decision would give more power to the police, pimps and madams. While prostitutes would be legally entitled to hire a bodyguard and "work" indoors, with the endorsement of the Ontario "Justice" establishment, "johns" would be in the clear, free to pay, come and go. Fortunately, survivors are organizing and speaking out about the daily reality of the sex industry, urging us all to consider the hidden side of this court decision.
University is OURS! Half-time Report
Submitted on April 28, 2012Join us! Free to attend:
Sunday, April 29
Sidney Smith Hall, University of Toronto, 100 St. George Street
9:30-9:45 Coffee
9:45-11:15 Session 5
Glorifying Israel Shames Harvard
Submitted on April 28, 2012Harvard's motto is "VERITAS (truth)." Its shield displays it. So do rings students buy. It wasn't present at Harvard's April 19 - 20 Israel Conference (IC). Perhaps an invitation wasn't extended.
"Fash, Bang, Wallop"
Submitted on April 28, 201222nd April 2012 - SchNEWS Issue 812
Yesterday's counter-protest against the March for England exceeded all expectations. Although the fascists did march they did so inside a mobile police kettle continuously surrounded and occasionally bombarded by counter-protesters...Last year the police successfully kettled most of the anti-fascists, allowing the [fascists] free rein through the city. They took full advantage of the opportunity to hand out racist abuse and attack alternative looking types. Brighton anti-fascists were determined to avoid a repeat.
Balaclava! VMC Broadsheet Issue 36
Submitted on April 28, 2012Class War and the College Crisis: The "Crisis of Democracy" and the Attack on Education
Submitted on April 28, 2012By Andrew Gavin Marshall
All around the world, the youth are taking to the streets, protesting, agitating, and striking against the abuses of power, the failures of government, the excesses of greed, plundering and poverty. The educated youth in particular are playing an active role, a role which will be increasing dramatically over the coming year and years. Now, just as several decades ago, the youth are turning back to activism. What happened in the intervening period to derail the activism that had been so widespread in the 1960s? How did our educational system get to its present state?
Psychiatry's Bible, the DSM, Is Doing More Harm Than Good
Submitted on April 28, 2012By Paula J. Caplan - April 27, 2012
Receiving any of the 374 psychiatric labels — from nicotine dependence disorder to schizophrenia — can cost anyone their health insurance, job, custody of their children, or right to make their own medical and legal decisions. And if patients take psychiatric drugs, they risk developing physical disorders such as diabetes, heart problems, weight gain and other serious conditions. In light of the subjectivity of these diagnoses and the harm they can cause, we should be extremely skeptical of them.
A Gathering of the Unprincipled and Politically Clueless: Christopher Hitchens Memorial in New York City
Submitted on April 28, 2012By David Walsh - WSWS
Vanity Fair magazine hosted a memorial in New York City April 20 for the late journalist Christopher Hitchens, who died of cancer in December...What would prompt anyone to celebrate such a despicable figure?...Pathologically vain and cynical, a thoroughgoing careerist, a mediocre snob without a memorable thought or insight to his credit, Hitchens had significance solely as the embodiment of the shift of a portion of the “protest generation” into staunch defenders...of the profit system.
Redemption of the White Liberal
Submitted on April 28, 2012By Herb Dyer - Dissident Voice
On campus we began to suspect that our white allies were not quite as committed to Black empowerment as they claimed to be...“When the going gets tough...they (the Hippies, Yippies, and other assorted white friends) will cut their long hair, put on skirts, suits and ties and go home to their fathers’ and uncles’ firms, businesses and farms, while we will still be in the ghetto competing with each other for janitor jobs”...When the crackdown came in the guise of “Law and Order”...our “white liberal” friends abandoned us as though we had the Bubonic Plague.
Deny the British Empire's Crimes? No, We Ignore Them
Submitted on April 28, 2012By George Monbiot - Znet
There is one thing you can say for the Holocaust deniers: at least they know what they are denying. In order to sustain the lies they tell, they must engage in strenuous falsification. To dismiss Britain's colonial atrocities, no such effort is required. Most people appear to be unaware that anything needs to be denied.
Quebec Students Appeal for Wider "Social Strike" Against Charest Government
Submitted on April 28, 2012By Coalition large de l’ASSÉ (CLASSE) - April 27, 2012
The student movement has focused on the issue of tuition fees and the commoditization of the universities. However, it is not unaware that this measure is integrally linked to a larger project affecting elementary and secondary education, the health-care sector and the unfettered development of natural resources. Our resistance to the Quebec government's neo-liberal measures has to take into account all of these sectors, establishing a social link that enables us to speak of a community.
Locked-Out Bus Drivers and Support Workers in N.B and P.E.I. Ask for Fair Contract
Submitted on April 28, 2012Nova Scotia intercity buses have turned around at provincial border for five months
Fredericton - Glen Carr says the blame lies with Acadian Coach Lines, and not the workers, for the five month absence of intercity bus service in New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island.
The Inequality That Ate American Democracy
Submitted on April 28, 2012By Danny Schechter - 25 April 2012
[Inequality] is distorting the structure of the economy where a new form of serfdom is trapping millions in debts they will never crawl out of...[I]t is changing the contours of the dominant consumer society. Economists used to brag about all the choices it offered, but today it is bifurcating into a world of pricey upscale shops versus the 99 cent stores...That's the real 1 per cent - 99 per cent divide that sustains the inequality.
China and Russia Hold Joint Naval Exercises in North East Asia
Submitted on April 27, 2012By John Chan - WSWS
China and Russia are conducting a major joint naval exercise in the Yellow Sea from April 22 to 27. The drills are a response by the two countries to their growing concerns about the Obama administration’s aggressive “pivot” to Asia that includes a military build-up and the strengthening of US alliances throughout the region.
Israel's Gulag Prison Hell
Submitted on April 27, 2012Israel's gulag is one of the world's most hellish.
Workers Put on Trial After Police Massacre in Kazakhstan
Submitted on April 27, 2012By Clara Weiss - 27 April 2012
Thirty-seven workers and political activists have been put on trial following a brutal intervention by police on December 16 in the Kazakh city Zhanaozen, which left at least 17 striking oil workers dead and hundreds wounded...The massacre was a response by the government to a month-long strike by thousands of oil workers in Zhanaozen. The demands of the workers included better wages for themselves as well as for local teachers and doctors, and the resignation of President Nursultan Nazarbayev.
Land Day: Why It Matters
Submitted on April 27, 2012In 1948, Israel stole 78% of Palestine. In 1967, they took the rest. The Israeli/Palestinian conflict remains the longest unresolved one of our time.
Don’t Let Bigots Occupy Your Mind
Submitted on April 27, 2012By LISA MARTINOVIC - Counterpunch Weekend Edition
Despite a generation of sensitivity trainings and multicultural studies, an astonishing number of people still feel emboldened to express their misbegotten bigotry in very public arenas. Cops and vigilantes alike are caught on tape throwing down racial slurs before they kill, Rush Limbaugh has no compunction about “slut-shaming” for a national audience, and classroom bullies drive a steady stream of gay youth to suicide.
M4 Resolution on the Extractive Mining Model
Submitted on April 27, 2012U.S. Steps Up Drone War in Yemen
Submitted on April 27, 2012By Patrick Martin - WSWS
President Barack Obama has approved much wider use of drone-fired missiles in Yemen...The result will be a much higher death toll from American attacks in that country...The Wall Street Journal reported that Obama had given the green light to...allow the [CIA] to fire missiles at buildings, cars and armed groups without identifying exactly who is being targeted, based simply on a pattern of activity observed by US surveillance satellites or on-the-ground informants.
A McGill Islamic Studies student experiences American Islamophobia firsthand
Submitted on April 27, 2012Interview with Pascal Abidor
When Pascal Abidor reached the US-Canadian border on May 1st, 2010, he was expecting the standard two-hour wait on the train while the border officials move through the cars and check passports. What he wasn't expecting was to be pulled off the train, handcuffed and detained for hours, and have his electronics searched. As Pascal explains, the agents decided to subject him to th
Stop Canada Pension Plan Investments in Israeli Apartheid
Submitted on April 27, 2012New research by the Coalition to Oppose the Arms Trade reveals that in 2011, the Canada Pension Plan had about $1.5 billion worth of shares in 66 international companies supplying Israel with military, police, surveillance and/or prison-related products and services.
6 Kinds of Pills Big Pharma Tries to Get You Hooked On for Life
Submitted on April 27, 2012By Martha Rosenberg - AlterNet
Since direct-to-consumer drug advertising debuted in the late 1990s, the number of people on prescription drugs -- especially prescription drugs for life -- has ballooned. Between 2001 to 2007 the percentage of adults and children on one or more prescriptions for chronic conditions rose by more than 12 million...and 25 percent of US children now take a medication for a chronic condition. Seven percent of kids take two or more daily drugs. Who says advertising doesn't work?
You Are All Suspects Now: What Are You Going to Do About It?
Submitted on April 27, 2012By John Pilger - Znet Commentary
You are all potential terrorists. It matters not that you live in Britain, the United States, Australia or the Middle East. Citizenship is effectively abolished...What has changed is that a state of permanent war has been launched by the United States and a police state is consuming western democracy.
The Ontario Budget and the Ontario NDP Caucus Salaries by the Numbers
Submitted on April 27, 2012By Michael Laxer - April 26, 2012
Many have applauded the so-called [Ontario] NDP tax that applies to almost no one. The minuscule charge on the ULTRA wealthy that only comes into effect on over $500,000 in income, non-inclusive!...Meanwhile the appalling fact that welfare recipients must accept what is, in reality, a cut and the fact that no one at all has put the minimum wage on the table goes unmentioned.
Abbas Censors Truth
Submitted on April 26, 2012The Palestinian Authority instructed Internet Service Provider's to block access to critical news websites. There's plenty to criticize Abbas for, especially for being a longtime Israeli collaborator against the interests of his own people. Instead of correcting what's wrong, he wants truth suppressed.
Spanish Government Proceeds with the Destruction of Health Care and Education
Submitted on April 26, 2012By Alejandro López - 25 April 2012
Not a day passes in Spain without further cuts at the local, regional or national level being announced, or measures imposed curtailing the right to assembly, to strike and to protest....[I]n addition to the denial of basic social rights, democratic rights are also being drastically curtailed.
The Killing of Anastasio Hernández Rojas and the Boundaries of Accountability
Submitted on April 26, 2012By Joseph Nevins - April 26th, 2012
Anastasio Hernández Rojas was born on the wrong side of the boundary dividing people and places of privilege from those of disadvantage. Like countless others in the eyes of the U.S. ruling class, he thus became disposable. When U.S. authorities deported Hernández Rojas to Mexico and deprived him of his right to be with his family, they effectively denied his right to live. And when they beat and tased him to death, they did so as well.
Montreal Demonstration "Turned Violent" When Police Shot Explosives at Us
Submitted on April 26, 2012By Megan Kinch - April 26, 2012
...[A]s a justification for police violence against eight or nine thousand people, collective punishment for a dozen or so broken windows and a few knocked over garbage cans is a pretty thin excuse...What you won’t ever see on mainstream TV is people pouring water into the eyes of comrades injured from pepper spray, or walking from safety right into a demonstration that’s being attacked...The violence last night was by the police.
Charter Cities in Honduras: A Proposal to Expand Canadian Colonialism
Submitted on April 26, 2012The Globe and Mail really outdid themselves today. With the help of a writer named Jeremy Torobin, they took their journalism to the level of the commentary they once specialized in courtesy of Christy Blatchford (who is now at the National Post).
The Spring of our Discontent
Submitted on April 26, 2012Why Nova Scotia is lagging behind in the so-called “maple spring” of student protests
Some have called the Quebec student movement le printemps érable (the maple spring), Canada’s answer to the Arab spring.
Pentagon Creates New Spy Unit Aimed at Iran and China
Submitted on April 26, 2012By Bill Van Auken - 26 April 2012
The Pentagon Tuesday confirmed published reports that it is setting up a new military intelligence agency, the Defense Clandestine Service (DCS), that will deploy hundreds of intelligence officers in spy operations directed against targets for future US wars, particularly Iran and China...The DCS will join 16 other US spy agencies — eight of them affiliated to the military — as part of what is known as the “United States Intelligence Community.”
A Look at the Massive Student Movement Shaking Up Quebec
Submitted on April 26, 2012By Richard Fidler - rabble.ca
The student strike - the longest in Quebec history - is now in a crucial phase. If it continues for more than a few days, an entire semester will be sacrificed by the students. Yet the strike has held firm. There are still more than 170,000 students boycotting classes and they are now being joined by some high school students.
Echo From the Past or the Present? Washington Capitals Victory Over Boston Bruins Spurs Spasm of Racism
Submitted on April 26, 2012By Dave Zirin - April 26, 2012
As rapid-fire as Twitter itself, what started as a moment of a sports euphoria turned decidedly ugly. There were the Washington Capitals beating the Boston Bruins 2-1 in Game 7 and moving on toward the National Hockey League's greatest prize, the Stanley Cup. Before my disbelieving eyes, the Caps' Joel Ward scored the winning overtime goal against last year’s Stanley Cup hero, Tim Thomas. But Ward is a black man, and before you could say “post-racial,” self-identifying Bruin fans tweeted a cascade of ugly invective, with the “N-word” being their epithet of choice.
A Nation of Morons
Submitted on April 26, 2012An ignorant public let's America get away with murder.
BLOG: Montreal Demonstration “Turned Violent” When Police Shot Explosives at Us
Submitted on April 26, 2012Front-Line Account of April 25th Montreal Student Demo
Montreal - I was at last night’s demonstration in Montreal. What was most impressive was that 15,000 people showed up to a night demo, knowing that there was a certainty of brutal police repression, but they showed up anyway.
Gatineau Students Rally in Quebec Solidarity Strike Action
Submitted on April 26, 2012UQO students snake-march late into Hull evening
Over 200 students held a noisy demonstration late Wednesday evening in Gatineau.
Université du Québec en Outaouais (UQO) and Cégep students snake-marched through the streets of the secteur de Hull for over two hours until just before 11:30pm.
Fifteen thousand take to Montreal streets as Quebec government plays semantics, blocks negotiations
Submitted on April 26, 2012It didn't take long; as always, the consensus among the media came quickly: Downtown turns into battlefield, Another demonstration goes
Balaclava! VMC Broadsheet issue 36
Submitted on April 25, 2012News and views from around Vancouver
April 2012's Balaclava! features voices from the WAM Women Action & Media conference, a look at Hoody up Vancouver, as well as demonstrations against the Enbridge pipeline as well as condo construction on Musqueam territory.
Click here for a PDF of this month's Balaclava!
Files attached to this post:
Obama Invokes Holocaust to Ratchet Up War Threats Against Iran and Syria
Submitted on April 25, 2012By Bill Van Auken - WSWS
President Barack Obama used a visit to Washington’s Holocaust Memorial Museum Monday to unveil a set of new sanctions against Iran and Syria and to promote the administration’s use of “human rights” as a pretext for aggressive war and regime change...The timing of this latest round of sanctions, coming on top of a whole series of unilateral US and European Union measures aimed at crippling the Syrian and Iranian economies, strongly indicates that Washington is merely using negotiations with both countries as a cover for preparing war and regime change.
Preventing Peace to Wage War
Submitted on April 25, 2012Obama plans more wars. The peace candidate can't get enough of them. Hawkishness defines his agenda. So does belligerently transforming independent regimes into client ones.
Just Another Drug Warrior: Obama Defends War on Pot
Submitted on April 25, 2012By Kristen Gwynne and Angela Lee - AlterNet
The Obama administration is under fire for its assault on state-approved medical marijuana programs...In a recent interview...Obama attempted to defend his administration's war on pot as consistent with his 2008 campaign promise -- one medical marijuana advocates have not forgotten -- to respect state medical marijuana laws...His arguments, however, are flawed.
Deteriorating Economy and Deepening Austerity in New Zealand
Submitted on April 25, 2012By John Braddock - 25 April 2012
The National Party-led government, which was re-elected last November, has intensified its assault on the New Zealand working class. The administration is imposing a sweeping program of privatization, job cuts and attacks on welfare and education that was concealed throughout the election and for which nobody voted...The government is warning that without harsh austerity measures, New Zealand faces the “Greek road” of potential bankruptcy.
Art Threat: Hot Docs 2012 preview
Submitted on April 25, 2012NGO's Promote Wars for Profit
Submitted on April 25, 2012Like better known war profiteers, NGOs also cash in.
Mexican Refugee Claimant Murdered After Deportation from Canada
Submitted on April 25, 201224 April, 2012 - Yahoo News
When Veronica Castro was in a Canadian detention centre awaiting imminent deportation back to Mexico, she wrote a letter to a friend saying she feared the worst: "I will really need your prayers"...She wrote that her deportation was a matter of "life or death … I'm shaking and terrified every time I think about my deportation. I am really scared"...Thirty-three days after being deported back to Mexico, on Jan. 12, 2012, Castro was murdered.
Mixing It Up at City Hall
Submitted on April 25, 2012Downtown Eastside Gets Shunted Off into Holding Tank
On the afternoon and evening of April 23, the City of Vancouver must have set multiple precedents at the Development Permit Board (DPB) review of an application to construct a condo at 138 East Hastings in the heart of the Downtown
The Children of Fallujah
Submitted on April 25, 2012By ROBERT FISK - April 25, 2012
Sayeffedin Abdulaziz Mohamed...has a kind face in his outsized head and they say he smiles when other children visit and when Iraqi families and neighbours come into the room...But he will never know the history of the world around him, never enjoy the freedoms of a new Middle East. He can move only his hands and take only bottled milk because he cannot swallow. He is already almost too heavy for his father to carry. He lives in a prison whose doors will remain forever closed.
Major Quebec Daily Publishes Fascist Diatribe Against Student Strike
Submitted on April 25, 2012By Eric Marquis - 25 April 2012
One of Quebec’s principal dailies has published on its internet site a commentary from a senior Quebec government official that openly calls for fascist-type violence to be employed against striking students...Titled “To be rid of student strikes,” the comment...urges that the actions the “fascist movements of the 1920s and 1930s” employed to “reconquer ground” from strikers and the left be emulated.
Criminalizing Refugees: The Case Against Bill C-31
Submitted on April 25, 2012By Nadia Saad and Us Man - April 23, 2012
Now with their full majority power, the Harper government is bringing in even harsher measures through Bill C-31, which was announced in February...[R]efugee claimants will be further invalidated, criminalized and endangered. The burden of the bill’s impact will fall on women, queer- and trans-identifying individuals and their families, and those fleeing from "safe" countries that are Canada's trade partners.
Media Scoundrels Promote War on Syria
Submitted on April 24, 2012Syria is a battle zone. Western generated violence is to blame, not Assad. America's media scoundrels claim otherwise. They want him ousted by any means, including war.
Neighbours From Hell
Submitted on April 24, 2012By Miles Howe - Halifax Media Co-op
...[O]n a spit of land his family has inhabited for three generations, Peter Boyles...stares pensively out his south-facing kitchen window. Through a thicket of spindly trees...his gaze comes to a rest on the neighbouring Trenton Generating Station...Since it opened in 1969, this coal-fired power plant...has come to define and shape Boyles' life. This used to be a nice place, until the neighbours from hell moved in.
Why and How the United States Wants to Get Iran to Give Up its Nuclear Program
Submitted on April 24, 2012[Translated from the analysis of the GegenStandpunkt Publishers on Radio Lora, Munich — March 5, 2012]
While the American espionage and subversion agency, the CIA, announced just last week that, on the basis of their information, it would be unlikely that Iran is working on a nuclear weapon, President Obama used the visit of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as the occasion for an overt threat of war, which he garnished with a promise: “I do not bluff!”
The Fetish of National Security: How America's Worst Crimes Are Perpetrated and Excused
Submitted on April 24, 2012By Corey Robin - AlterNet
Although moderate-minded intellectuals have repeatedly mobilized...against the “isms” of right and left, they have seldom mustered a comparable skepticism about that other idée fixe of the twentieth century: national security. Some writers criticize this war, others that one, but has anyone ever penned, in the spirit of Daniel Bell, a book titled “The End of National Security”? Millions have been killed in the name of security...Yet no such book exists.
«Printemps québécois» : climat insurrectionnel et répression martiale
Submitted on April 24, 2012Les émeutes qui ont perturbé, vendredi dernier, l’ouverture du Salon Plan Nord organisé par la Chambre de commerce du Montréal métropolitain, ne relèvent pas d’un fait divers.
Rocky Mountaineer Workers Locked Out for Second Season
Submitted on April 24, 2012VANCOUVER - The Rocky Mountaineer tourist train launched its 2012 season today - complete with bagpipes, private security and a trainload of scabs.
May 1: From Haymarket to Occupy May Day
Submitted on April 24, 2012By Syed Hussan, Mary-Elizabeth Dill and Abeer Majeed - April 24, 2012
...Canadian austerity policies follow the same pattern as those of the United States, the U.K., Greece, Spain and other countries...These policies involve massive transfers of wealth: from public services to corporations, prison-builds and the military; from the rest of us to those whose policies and institutions lock us up, make us sick and keep us poor. Policies that slash public services are accompanied by a ratcheting up of repression mechanisms, attacks on the right to strike, and on activists and organizers struggling for a decent livelihood...
Neighbours From Hell
Submitted on April 24, 2012Think you've got it bad? Try living next door to Nova Scotia Power's Trenton Generating Station
HILLSIDE, NS – Down Boyles Road, on a spit of land his family has inhabited for three generations, Peter Boyles, of the Trenton-Hillside Environmental Watch Association, stares pensively out his south-facing kitchen window.
Breaking News. Banner Drop. #May1TO: A good day to call-in sick
Submitted on April 24, 2012Toronto -- As the Austerity budget in Ontario goes to vote, activists from No One Is Illegal - Toronto and Occupy Toronto issued a call for a mass protest and day of action on May Day (May 1), 2012. A 30 x 7 foot banner was dropped off a highway crossing early Tuesday morning, cheekily telling early morning motorists to call-in sick on May Day, when immigrant and worker rights g
Students Vote to Protest Barrick Gold
Submitted on April 24, 2012Toronto Alternative School decides to take the streets on May 2
Students at the Student School voted unanimously this month to support a protest against Barrick Gold at their annual general meeting in downtown Toronto.
Demonstrator Shot Dead Ahead of Bahrain Grand Prix
Submitted on April 23, 2012By Jean Shaoul - 23 April 2012
Bahrain security forces shot dead an anti-government demonstrator, Salah Abbas Habib Musa, after angry clashes with the police on Friday night...Rallies and demonstrations, labeled “three days of rage”, had been called across the island country to protest against the government coinciding with the Formula One Grand Prix held over the weekend.
Shaky Economies
Submitted on April 23, 2012Economic growth already is faltering. Lower or declining growth despite larger money infusions shows trouble gets closer to erupting. As long as printing presses roll, day of reckoning is postponed, but that game only works for so long.
Youth of Color: Watched and Shot
Submitted on April 23, 2012By MARK LEWIS TAYLOR - Counterpunch
Trayvon Martin and Mumia Abu-Jamal. One is dead. One languished on death row for thirty years. They are separated in age by a generation, separated by different locations and different life-histories, but their stories of being under surveillance, watched and shot, intersect strikingly with each other, and with many other people.
"Rich Get Rich, the Poor Get Pushed Around"
Submitted on April 23, 2012By David P. Ball - rabble.ca
For many residents of the block around 100 Hastings Street – the heart of Canada's poorest off-reserve postal code – a condominium development proposed for the Downtown Eastside (DTES) poses a threat. But a few say any change is needed for the area – but the need is affordable rental units, not condos...Last week, community members took over City Council chambers to oppose the project.
Ontario Unions Provide Cover for NDP's Support for Austerity Budget
Submitted on April 23, 2012By Carl Bronski - WSWS
“The NDP’s readiness to support the Liberal budget is not a matter of being ‘boxed-in’ by parliamentary arithmetic. The NDP has at most minor, tactical differences with the Liberal austerity measures. It agrees with the Liberals that the budget must be balanced by 2017-18 and that this must be done principally through spending cuts — that is at the expense of the public and social services upon which working people depend and by gutting public sector workers’ wages, pensions and other benefits.”
Marwan Barghouti: Suspect Accusations After the Fact
Submitted on April 23, 2012Barghouti is a political prisoner. On May 20, 2004, he was wrongfully convicted of involvement in three terrorist attacks killing five people. Acquitted on 33 other charges, he received five consecutive life sentences plus 40 years. A legitimate court would have acquitted him. Israel's military one judged him guilty by accusation. Due process and judicial fairness were absent.
Drug War, Cell Phones, Cars and Chemtrails…Plus Handy Research Tips
Submitted on April 23, 2012In this 5th episode of the Potent News Blast I cover various different aspects of the tyranny we find ourselves in and (for the hardcore researchers out there) I give a couple handy PC tips that should make it easier for you to absorb the information that is so rapidly and constantly pouring in these days.
Youth-Organized Earth Day Parade and Rally Draw Hundreds in East Vancouver
Submitted on April 23, 2012Hundreds of people participated in the Earth Day Parade organized by Youth for Climate Justice Now yesterday.
"Stop Harper’s Gang" Says Former Senate Page in Challenging Alberta Wildrose Leader
Submitted on April 23, 2012By Cameron Fenton - Media Co-op
Brigette DePape, the “Rogue Page” who disrupted the federal throne speech with a “Stop Harper” sign challenged Wildrose leader Danielle Smith as she arrived to cast her ballot at a polling station in High River with a similar sign reading “Stop Harper’s Gang”...“We know that the same people who are behind Stephen Harper’s gutting of the laws which protect the environment, his waging war on civil society groups for speaking up for Canadian values, and his absolute refusal to take action on climate change are the same gang who are behind the Wildrose...”
Disabling Bodies, Brains and Spirits: How Psychiatric Drugs Made America Mad
Submitted on April 23, 2012By Gary G. Kohls - April 22, 2012
...[T]ens of millions of unsuspecting Americans have become mired deeply, to the point of permanent disability, in the American mental “health” system...Many of these innocents have actually been made “crazy” and often disabled by the use of – or the withdrawal from – these commonly prescribed, brain-altering and, for many, brain-damaging psychiatric drugs that have been, for many decades, cavalierly handed out like candy...
Racism in the Postracial Nation
Submitted on April 23, 2012By Ron Jacobs - April 23rd, 2012
Discussing racism is always a tricky business...While only a few far right fringe groups openly declare their racism in public, a common understanding exists that denies the historical effects of an economic and social system built on the systemic denial of a people’s basic humanity because of their skin color. This understanding continues to create clear lines of economic and social estrangement for a majority of the black residents of the United States.
‘Stop Harper’s Gang’ says former Senate Page in challenging Wildrose leader
Submitted on April 23, 2012Levon Helm, Distinctive Voice of The Band, Dies at 71
Submitted on April 23, 2012By James Brewer - 23 April 2012
Levon Helm, the multi-instrumental drummer and singer of the musical group, The Band, died at age 71 on April 19 at the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York City after a long bout with throat cancer. Helm helped give The Band its characteristic sound with his poignant singing voice. Helm had a passionate, lifelong love of music and developed an equally passionate hatred of the music industry establishment.
Trying to understand a tragedy
Submitted on April 23, 2012This week I have spent my days reading news articles and blog posts about Raymond Taavel, crying, and selling Pride flags to solemn customers.
Discours - Coalition RRQ / InnuPower
Submitted on April 22, 2012Rassemblement du 21 avril 2012
Une sélection des discours prononcés, sous la pluie, lors du rassemblement devant le Palais des Congrès de la coalition RRQ / InnuPower.
Protesting for Justice in Bahrain
Submitted on April 22, 2012Long-suffering Bahrainis want democratic change. In response, Al Khalifa security forces attack them.
The Disappearing Terrorists
Submitted on April 22, 2012By Philip Giraldi - Antiwar.com
It is becoming even more difficult to find groups and individuals scattered overseas that have the resources, the motivation, and the skills necessary to travel to the heart of the Great Satan and, once here, acquire explosives, evade the police, make their way to Penn Station, and blow themselves up...Lacking any real terrorists and recognizing that the war on terror must go on for reasons best known to bureaucrats and defense contractors, it has perhaps become an acceptable option to make some up.
You Can’t "Grow the Movement" by Dissing the Kids: On Chris Hedges and Occupy
Submitted on April 22, 2012By Katherine M Acosta - Friday, April 13, 2012
Hedges claims that “black bloc anarchism” is the “portal into the movement” by which agent provocateurs will undermine it...Hedges’ intransigent attitude and apparent unwillingness to engage in true dialogue with young activists at the center of the movement, whose views differ with his, constitutes a greater threat to the movement than any government infiltrator. Dismissing and alienating the brave and spirited young people who created Occupy will not “grow the movement” – though it may allow other entities to co-opt and...kill it.
UN Security Council Authorizes 300 Syrian Monitors
Submitted on April 22, 2012UN Monitors won't stop Washington's rage for more war.
Democracy in the Age of Austerity: Beyond the Robocall Scandal
Submitted on April 22, 2012By James Cairns - The Bullet Socialist Project
To people who recognize that real social change isn't going to happen through the existing democratic system, being concerned about robocall can seem like a waste of time and energy. But when robocall is viewed from a broader perspective, it can begin to take on real significance. In fact, there are good reasons for viewing robocall as but one covert episode in a whole series of attacks on democracy that are happening right out in the open.
Israel Rides the Roller-Coaster of Mass Hysteria
Submitted on April 22, 2012By Ilan Pappe - 18 April 2012
Spending a week in Israel these days is like being trapped within a scene from the movie One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest...Like Jack Nicholson in the lead role of that classic film, you might not be insane but the doctors and nurses who run the psychiatric ward manufacture every few minutes a collective hysteria to keep everyone in the grip of fear and hatred. Everyone is an enemy, every visitor an existential threat.
Roma Refused in Canada
Submitted on April 22, 2012By Kristyna Balaban - April 20, 2012
Since 1997, thousands of Roma have been seeking asylum in Canada, the first wave coming from the Czech Republic, quickly followed by Roma from Hungary, and to a lesser degree Slovakia and Romania. Currently the largest group of Roma seeking asylum in Canada are from Hungary...In recent years, changes to visa requirements and changes to immigration and refugee laws have created significant challenges to those wishing to immigrate here, leading to a massive decrease in the number of Roma accepted as refugees.
Evangelical Good News Clubs
Submitted on April 22, 2012By Bill Berkowitz - Z Magazine
“The fact is that there is a movement in our midst that rejects the values of inclusivity and diversity, a movement that seeks to undermine the foundations of modern secular democracy. It has set its sights on destroying the system of public education — and it is succeeding. Unless we confront that fact directly, we may well keep our rights but lose the system of education that has long served as the silent pillar of our democracy.”
- Santa Barbara (California) Mother, Novelist and Journalist Katherine Stewart, author of The Good News Club: The Christian Right’s Stealth Assault on America’s Children
Two years After the BP Drilling Disaster, Gulf Residents Fear for the Future
Submitted on April 22, 2012By Jordan Flaherty - April 22, 2012
On April 20, 2010, a reckless attitude towards the safety of the Gulf Coast by BP, as well as Transocean and Halliburton, caused a well to blow out 5,000 feet below the surface of the Gulf of Mexico. As the world watched in horror, underwater cameras showed a seemingly endless flow of oil – hundreds of millions of gallons - and a series of failed efforts to stop it, over a period of nearly three months. Two years later, that horror has not ended for many on the Gulf.
Paris "Friends of Syria" Meeting: Imperialist Powers Prepare for War Against Syria
Submitted on April 22, 2012By Johannes Stern - 21 April 2012
The so-called “Friends of Syria,” consisting of the major imperialist powers, their NATO allies, and the Gulf monarchies, met Thursday evening in Paris to step up their war preparations against Syria...UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, meanwhile, demonstrated the role of the UN as an instrument of US imperialist policy by placing the entire blame for violations of the ceasefire on Assad.
Our Generation's Quiet Awakening must be Green and Red
Submitted on April 22, 2012En français: http://bit.ly/Ji1EFz
La Révolution Tranquille de Notre Génération doit être verte et rouge
Submitted on April 22, 2012Aujourd’hui, le mouvement étudiant québécois, si créatif et engageant, s’engage à tisser son chemin à travers la marche pour le Jour de la Terre à Montréal, fusionnant rouge et vert pour symboliser ses demandes pour un gel des frais de scolarité avec un respect pour la planète et ceux qui sont le plus touchés par les changements climatiques.
Cape Breton Coal Mining Plans Inching Forward
Submitted on April 22, 2012In an age of climate change, controversial multinational seeks to re-open Donkin mine
Halifax - Erdene Resource Development Corp., and giant multi-national coal exporter Xtrata, continue to move through federal environmental regulatory hurdles to re-develop the Donkin coal mine project in Cape Breton.
Deuxième journée de combat au Salon Plan Nord
Submitted on April 21, 2012Suite à une deuxième manifestation en deux jours face au Palais des congrès, plus tôt ce matin, le Salon Plan Nord a été annulé pour la journée.
Manifestation anticolonialiste – Plan Nord
Submitted on April 21, 2012Vendredi 20 avril 2012
« Quand vous aurez coupé tous les arbres, quand vous aurez pollué toutes les rivières et tué tous les animaux, peut-être comprendrez-vous que l'argent ne se mange pas.»
- Samian reprenant Sitting Bull
America's Gulf Disaster Revisited
Submitted on April 21, 2012April 20 marked the two year anniversary of BP's Gulf of Mexico disaster. Until Fukushima Daiichi's catastrophic nuclear meltdown, it was the largest ever environmental calamity. It's devastated the lives of millions of area residents. It contaminated America's Gulf.
Those Laboratory Mice Were Children
Submitted on April 21, 2012By Karlos Zurutuza - Znet
At Fallujah hospital they cannot offer any statistics on children born with birth defects – there are just too many. Parents don’t want to talk. "Families bury their newborn babies after they die without telling anyone...It’s all too shameful for them"..."In 2004 the Americans tested all kinds of chemicals and explosive devices on us: thermobaric weapons, white phosphorous, depleted uranium...we have all been laboratory mice for them..."
Grand Prix Hypocrisy in Bahrain
Submitted on April 21, 2012On April 13, Formula One's (F1) governing body announced Bahrain's Grand Prix will go ahead as planned. In protest, Bahraini youths promised "three days of rage" from April 20 - 22. In 2011, they and human rights activists got F1's race canceled.
A Brief Insider's Report on the April 20th Plan Nord Protest
Submitted on April 21, 2012Julian Assange Lawyer Delayed While Flying to Australia
Submitted on April 21, 2012By Mike Head - 20 April 2012
[Australia's] Labor government is completely at one with Washington...in seeking to lock Assange away and crush WikiLeaks. That is because the thousands of documents that WikiLeaks has published have helped expose the US-led war crimes in Afghanistan and Iraq, as well as other abuses, conspiracies, war preparations and repression organized around the world by the imperialist powers, including Australia.
"I Know You Don’t Like the Word Apartheid, But What do You Call a System That Gives a Settler 50 Times More Water Than a Palestinian?"
Submitted on April 21, 2012By Philip Weiss - April 17, 2012
On March 26, at the J Street conference in Washington, D.C., Palestinian leader Mustafa Barghouti described apartheid in Palestine to a largely-Jewish audience. As he spoke, you could have heard a pin drop in a room jammed with 500 people hearing about the one-state option. His comments have resonated in the weeks since. It is a marvel, and a tragedy, that this description of Palestinian conditions has not been published in America. Here is a substantial portion of his remarks.
Is Obama Kowtowing to the Right? Or Is He One of Them?
Submitted on April 21, 2012By Ted Rall - Wednesday, April 18, 2012
For progressives and leftists...the main point is that Obama never tries to move the mainstream of ideological discourse to the left...Obama has been mostly silent on the biggest issue of our time, income inequality and the rapid growth of the American underclass. He hasn't said much about the environment or climate change, the most serious problem we face...Even on issues where he was blocked by Congress...he zipped his lips.
The Wild Hypocrisy of America's Conservative Christians
Submitted on April 21, 2012By David Sirota - AlterNet
Here's a newspaper headline that might induce a disbelieving double take: "Christians 'More Likely to Be Left-wing' And Have Liberal Views on Immigration and Equality." Sounds too hard to believe, right? Well, it's true -- only not here in America, but in the United Kingdom.
Quebec Government Seeks to Intimidate and Split Striking Students
Submitted on April 21, 2012By Keith Jones - WSWS
With the enthusiastic support of big business and the corporate media, the government and state apparatus are using intimidation and repression against the students, while also trying to split them by excluding the more militant of the three province-wide student federations from proposed talks...Mass arrests of students are now a routine daily occurrence.
Let them work up north!
Submitted on April 21, 2012“Let them eat cake!” Marie Antoinette never said those words (really, who would be ignorant enough to say such a thing while peasants were starving for lack of bread?), but they were subsequently attributed to her to illustrate the yawning gap that existed between the masses and the rulers on the eve of the French revoluti
Teachers Rally against Cuts to Education
Submitted on April 21, 2012Cole Harbour - About 300 teachers rallied against cuts to education outside premier Darrell Dexter's constituency office Friday afternoon after the end of the school day.
Demonstration Against The Plan Nord In Pictures
Submitted on April 20, 2012Police were overwhelmed by demonstrators Friday, before receiving reinforcements from the Sûreté du Québec.
Israel Using Oslo Accords to Steal West Bank Land
Submitted on April 20, 2012Israel works its way around everything for what it wants. Palestinians are ruthlessly exploited and persecuted. They lose title to their own land. It took Israel 45 years to steal over 40% of the West Bank. It's heading toward well over 50% en route to over 60%, then more, plus all East Jerusalem.
Harper Pushing Extractive Industry in Latin America But Communities Are Pushing Back
Submitted on April 20, 2012April 20, 2012 - Media Co-op
At the Summit of the Americas in Cartagena, Colombia, Harper spoke to CEOs from across the Americas and unveiled Canada’s plans to expand into Latin America with vigor...Canadian mining companies already have a significant presence in the region, with two-thirds of all mining projects in the Americas...What he neglected to mention was that many communities in the region don’t share his vision of development and that Latin America is rife with resistance against Canada’s extractive industry.
CIA Seeks to Widen Assassination Campaign in Yemen
Submitted on April 20, 2012By Patrick Martin - 20 April 2012
The US Central Intelligence Agency is seeking to expand its authority to carry out remote-control assassinations in Yemen...CIA Director David Petraeus has made the request to the White House and the National Security Council is now discussing it...Petraeus is seeking permission to engage in “signature strikes,” using drone-fired missiles to attack targets identified “solely on intelligence indicating patterns of suspicious behavior”...without knowing exactly who was being targeted for extermination.
Palestinians Call For Action Against Israeli Prison Contractors G4S
Submitted on April 20, 2012By Stop the Wall - April 20, 2012
Emphasizing imprisonment as a critical component of Israel’s system of occupation, colonialism and apartheid practiced against the Palestinian people, we call for intensifying the global Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaign to target corporations profiting directly from the Israeli prison system. In particular, we call for action to be taken to hold to account G4S, the world’s largest international security corporation...for its complicity with Israeli violations of international law.
The Top Five Special Interest Groups Lobbying to Keep Marijuana Illegal in the U.S.
Submitted on April 20, 2012By Lee Fang - AlterNet
Last year, over 850,000 people in America were arrested for marijuana-related crimes. Despite public opinion, the medical community, and human rights experts all moving in favor of relaxing marijuana prohibition laws, little has changed in terms of policy...Part of America’s fixation with keeping the leafy green plant illegal is rooted in cultural and political clashes from the past.
CKUT's Off the Hour: Red Square Report for Friday, april 20th
Submitted on April 20, 2012Round Table on studen strike and freedom of the press
live round-table discussion on the media and the student strike.
CKUT's Off the Hour: Red Square Report for Friday, April 20th
Submitted on April 20, 2012Occupation du palais des congres en opposition au plan nord
An employment fair for Quebec's controversial Plan Nord was held in Montreal today, but it was protested by indigenous solidarity and student activists, who entered the Palais des Congres, briefly occupied it and were
What do Breivik and Netanyahu Have in Common?
Submitted on April 20, 2012By Alan Hart - Dissident Voice
Let’s start with a glance at what they do not have in common. The man now on trial for killing 77 people in bomb and gun attacks in Norway last July has admitted, even boasted about, what he did. Netanyahu denies Zionism’s crimes...The main thing they have in common stems from the fact that they both live in fantasy worlds of their own creation and talk a lot of extreme right-wing nonsense.
Focus of Euro Crisis Shifts to Spain
Submitted on April 20, 2012By Peter Schwarz - WSWS
Spain now faces the same fate that has befallen Greece. Under pressure from the European Union and the international financial markets, the country is sliding into a downward spiral of austerity and recession...Since the beginning of the year, the conservative government of Mariano Rajoy has adopted budget cuts of €37 billion...For the Spanish population, which is already suffering an unemployment rate of 23 percent and a youth unemployment rate of over 50 percent, this means unbearable hardship.
Student Protests Suspend Classes in Gatineau
Submitted on April 20, 2012By Andy Crosby - April 20, 2012
Direct action undertaken by striking Université du Québec en Outaouais (UQO) students and their allies has resulted in classes being canceled for the remainder of the week...After being kettled by riot cops for hours on Wednesday, in an attempt to prevent a large demonstration from reaching the Lucien-Brault campus, students rallied again Thursday and marched on the campus where they were met with police pepper spray and batons.
Warning: Visiting Israel Is Dangerous
Submitted on April 20, 2012Don't visit Gaza by sea. In May 2010, nine Mavi Marmara activists died trying. Anyone planning Gaza, West Bank, or East Jerusalem trips be warned. Interdictions, beatings, arrests, interrogations, detentions, deportations, or even death may follow. Israel is indeed dangerous.
Homegrown Healthcare Risks Going Up in Smoke
Submitted on April 20, 2012Interview with Laurie MacEachern, Executive Director of the Medical Cannabis Patients Alliance of Canada
Halifax, Nova Scotia - As Health Canada seems intent to push through revisions to the Medical Marihuana (sic) Access Regulations that will eliminate personal grow licences for patients, patients are now fighting back in force.
Student Protests Overcome Court Injunction as Classes are Suspended in Gatineau
Submitted on April 20, 2012Police mass arrest over 300 students and professors in two days
Direct action undertaken by striking Université du Québec en Outaouais (UQO) students and their allies has resulted in classes being cancelled until Monday, the final day of a ten-day court injunction ordering them back to class and criminalizing protests within 25 metres of either campus.
April 17th, 2012; In Memoriam
Submitted on April 20, 2012Like many others who live in Halifax and across Canada, I was shocked, horrified and filled with sorrow after hearing of the violent death of Raymond Taavel—a prominent and respected activist for LGBT rights, long-time editor of Wayves magazine, and organizer for Fair Vote Nova Scotia, to name just some of his most celebrated work.
Lawsuit Challenges Oppressive Policing of New York Apartment Buildings
Submitted on April 19, 2012By Dan Brennan - WSWS
Taking out the trash, checking the mailbox, picking up the basement laundry, swinging by the corner bodega…for hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers, these mundane activities are reason enough for the [New York Police Department] to stop, question, harass and even arrest them. “Operation Clean Halls”...is now the subject of a class action lawsuit brought by the New York Civil Liberties Union (NYCLU)...Throughout the city, landlords have enrolled approximately 16,000 apartment buildings in the program, primarily in black and Latino working class neighborhoods.
Collectively Punishing Palestinian Prisoners and Families
Submitted on April 19, 2012Palestinian families suffer just like prisoners.
IMF Insists Austerity Drive Must be Intensified
Submitted on April 19, 2012By Nick Beams - 19 April 2012
Austerity policies aimed at systematically lowering the living standards and social conditions of the working class must be intensified, even as governments continue to hand out hundreds of billions of dollars to the banks. This is the central message contained in two major reports published by the International Monetary Fund this week in advance of the IMF’s spring meeting this weekend.
Khader Adnan: Freed for How Long?
Submitted on April 19, 2012On April 17, Palestinian Prisoners Day, Khader Adnan gained freedom. At issue is for how long? As announced, Israel released him as scheduled. He endured 66 hunger striking days to be free.
Gatineau Riot Police Kettle UQO Students, Make Dozens of Arrests
Submitted on April 19, 2012By Andy Crosby - April 18, 2012
Gatineau riot police kettled over 200 students, professors, supporters, and journalists on Lac des Fées parkway on Wednesday, April 18...The demonstration was en route to the Université du Québec en Outaouais’s (UQO) Lucien-Brault campus as students defied a court injunction for a third day ordering them back to class and criminalizing protests within 25 metres of both UQO’s Gatineau campuses.
Education...for Some?
Submitted on April 19, 2012Teaching assistants concerned that cuts to education are leaving students with learning disabilities behind
“Before I started school, I literally could not speak,” says Kyle Hunter.
“My diagnosis before I started school was Pervasive Development Disorder (PDD), ” says the teaching assistant (TA) with the Cape Breton-Victoria Regional School Board (CBVRSB). But despite his struggles early on, Hunter succeeded in school, and has held his current job for three years.
Mitt Romney and Ted Nugent: The Corporate Media's Outrageous Double Standard
Submitted on April 19, 2012By Adele M. Stan - AlterNet
Ever since the election of the nation's first African-American president, the media seem to have become acclimated to a right-wing rhetorical landscape so fraught with racism and violence that words once unthinkable as public utterances by supporters of a Republican candidate barely register as such. Yet, cowed as they are by the right-wing message machine, media figures often feel that they dare not ignore even the most ridiculous of right-wing talking points.
The Prison Labor Complex
Submitted on April 19, 2012By STEVE FRASER and JOSHUA B. FREEMAN - Counterpunch
Sweatshop labor is back with a vengeance...The privatization of prisons in recent years has meant the creation of a small army of workers too coerced and right-less to complain...Prisoners, whose ranks increasingly consist of those for whom the legitimate economy has found no use, now make up a virtual brigade within the reserve army of the unemployed whose ranks have ballooned along with the U.S. incarceration rate.
NATO Discusses Military Intervention in Syria
Submitted on April 19, 2012By Chris Marsden - 19 April 2012
Turkey is leading calls for a military attack on Syria on behalf of the United States. Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu attended yesterday’s NATO meeting in Brussels and will attend the Paris meeting today of the Friends of Syria — the Washington-led front, encompassing the European powers and Arab League states such as Saudi Arabia and Qatar, that is leading the war drive against Syria.
Downtown Eastside Goes Up Against City Hall
Submitted on April 18, 2012Canada Crime Bill C10 Hunger Striker Decries Parliament's "Silent Treatment"
Submitted on April 18, 2012On March 14, 2012, Occupy Ottawa activist and progressive political blogger, Obert Madondo, embarked on an indefinite hunger strike against Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s new draconian crime law, deceptively christened "Safe Streets and Communities Act". On March 27, he submitted his letter of demands to all of Canada's 308 MPs and 105 senators. Thirty six days later, he still hasn't received a response. Obert is worried that this "tyranny of silence" is meant to wear him down, and that it will become the new normal in Canada under Harper.
Failure in Cartagena
Submitted on April 18, 2012America's imperial arrogance makes more enemies than friends. It also weakens influence. Ravaging the world one country at a time doesn't help. Neither does bullying nations to go along or else.
Syria and Bahrain
Submitted on April 18, 2012By Bill Van Auken - WSWS
Syria...has been targeted as a stepping-stone toward a far more devastating war against Iran, which is seen by US imperialism as an impediment to its drive to assert hegemony over the oil-rich regions of the Persian Gulf and Central Asia. This strategy inevitably draws in China and Russia, which see Washington’s wars and destabilization campaigns as directed at destroying their interests and influence in the Middle East.
America's Lost War
Submitted on April 18, 2012America's Afghan war is lost and illegal. The Bush administration got no Security Council authorization or congressional declaration of war.
May Day Hype Issue: The Peak
Submitted on April 18, 2012May Day represents many things to many people. It is internationally recognized as a day where the working class mobilizes against the rich, appropriately named the ‘real’ labour day. It is a time to remember the Haymarket martyrs who died at the hands of the state. It also represents a time of change, as plants begin to produce their first fruits. May first is also known as beltane, a pagan holiday celebrating renewed fertility and life.
Riot Police Kettle UQO Students, Make Dozens of Arrests
Submitted on April 18, 2012Gatineau riot police kettled over 200 students, professors, supporters, and journalists on Lac des Fées parkway on Wednesday, April 18.
Murder, Suicide and Financial Ruin: How the Class War Is Destroying Americans' Lives
Submitted on April 18, 2012By Mark Ames - April 17, 2012
This is what a lopsided class war looks like: The financial fraudsters, the One Percenters, fleece the unsophisticated locals like 19th century Europeans plundering far-away aborigines.
They Are Still Killing Trade Union Leaders
Submitted on April 18, 2012By DAVID MACARAY - April 18, 2012
So what happens these days in developing countries when a prominent, charismatic union activist...attempts to get the country’s underpaid, under-benefited workers to join a labor union? Answer: They kill him...It was reported Monday, April 9, that the body of Aminul Islam, the charismatic and widely respected union leader of Bangladesh’s garment industry, had been found...dumped along a side a road in Ghatail, a town approximately 60 miles northwest of Dhaka, Bangladesh’s capital.
Fascist Anders Breivik Defends Mass Killings as Trial Opens in Norway
Submitted on April 18, 2012By Jordan Shilton - 18 April 2012
On day two of his trial, Anders Breivik gave an hour-long defence of his slaughter of 77 people...in Oslo and the island of Utoeya last July 22 and said that he would do it again...Calling his massacre “the most sophisticated and spectacular political attack” in Europe since the Second World War, Breivik described himself as commander in an anti-communist, anti-Islamic “resistance” movement, at war against immigrants, Muslims and what he called a “Marxist dictatorship” in Norway.
"Compassionate, Caring, Outgoing, Welcoming:" Vigil Held Following Murder of Halifax LGBT Activist Raymond Taavel
Submitted on April 18, 2012By Steve Caines - April 17, 2012
At least 300 people gathered on Gottingen Street in Halifax today at 7pm to mourn the passing of Raymond Taavel, local community activist. Taavel was killed this morning at approx. 3a.m., outside Menz and Mollyz Bar, defending a friend during a physical attack...Taavel was a prominent and respected Haligonian activist for [Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgendered] rights. He was a long time editor of Wayves newspaper, and was co-chair of Halifax Pride events.
The U.S. and the Afghan Train Wreck
Submitted on April 18, 2012By Conn Hallinan - Znet
The Obama administration’s initial mistake was to surge some 33,000 troops into Afghanistan with the aim of beating up on the resistance and forcing it to negotiate from a position of weakness. That plan was always an illusion, particularly given the ability of the insurgents to fall back into Pakistan to regroup, rearm, and recruit. In any case, the idea that 140,000 foreign troops...could defeat a force of some 25,000 guerilla fighters in a country as vast or geographically formidable as Afghanistan is laughable.
The Austerity Insanity: Coming Soon to Ontario
Submitted on April 18, 2012By Michael Laxer - April 18, 2012
...[E]very mainstream political party in Ontario has consciously chosen to place the maintenance and continuance of...personal and corporate tax cuts ahead of the social benefits, youth programs, anti-poverty and housing programs, welfare and disability benefit increases, public sector wages and public sector services, and so many other government efforts that their reversal would fund.
Poem Tribute to Raymond Taavel
Submitted on April 17, 2012For Raymond, and for all of the Raymonds, which is to say: for everyone
Written by Tanya Davis on April 17th, for the death and life of Raymond Taavel and for the love of Halifax
“Compassionate, Caring, Outgoing, Welcoming”
Submitted on April 17, 2012Vigil held on Gottingen Street following murder of Raymond Taavel
At least 300 people gathered on Gottingen Street in Halifax today at 7pm to mourn the passing of Raymond Taavel, local community activist. Taavel was killed this morning at approx. 3a.m., outside Menz and Mollyz Bar, defending a friend during a physical attack.
Mass Palestinian Prisoner Hunger Strike
Submitted on April 17, 2012On April 17, about 1,600 Palestinian prisoners began open-ended hunger strikes. Palestinians face hellish conditions in Israeli prisons. They endure torture, deprivation, isolation, intimidation, and denial of basic rights.
Insurgents Attack Heart of U.S.-Led Occupation in Afghanistan
Submitted on April 17, 2012By James Cogan - 17 April 2012
Small groups of insurgents...carried out a coordinated series of attacks on Sunday against prominent NATO and Afghan government facilities in the capital Kabul and three other provinces. Among the buildings hit with small arms and rocket propelled grenades were the parliament, the US, British, German, Japanese and Russian embassies, NATO headquarters and a newly-opened hotel. In the country’s eastern provinces, airfields and police stations were attacked.
Trolling for Kids
Submitted on April 17, 2012By DAVE LINDORFF - April 17, 2012
In the militarist society in which we live in these latter days of American Empire, all soldiers are “noble heroes” who have signed up at “great personal sacrifice” to “defend our freedoms,” and we are all expected to pay homage and a great deal of our hard-earned money to support them, both in their brutal efforts to subjugate people in desperately poor parts of the world, and...as veterans.
Beating Up on North Korea and Iran
Submitted on April 17, 2012Washington needs enemies. When none exist, they're created. North Korea and Iran are prime targets. Neither poses threats. Yet they've faced decades of false accusations.
The CBC on Quebec Student Strike: Deploying the Government's Discourse?
Submitted on April 17, 2012By Stefan Christoff - Coop Média de Montréal
Any CBC claims to objectivity in reporting on the student strike are strenuous, as reporters disproportionately boost anti-strike student voices, while fully adopting government language on the strike, incorrectly labeling the strike a boycott...Equating small right wing student initiatives...with a mass Québec student movement opposed to tuition hikes is simplistic journalism that presents an inaccurate picture.
Americas Summit Ends in Fiasco for Obama
Submitted on April 17, 2012By Bill Van Auken - 17 April 2012
For Obama, the two-day summit was an unmitigated fiasco, with the positions of his government opposed by every other participating nation outside of Canada, and news reports of the gathering in the United States overshadowed by a prostitution scandal at a Cartagena hotel involving 11 members of the US president’s Secret Service detail and five American military personnel.
CKUT's Off the Hour: The risk of the Inter-Tribal Youth Center closing in 3 months
Submitted on April 17, 2012Interview with Gordon Bird
An interview with vice-president of the Board of Directors at the Native Friendship Center of Montreal, Gordon Bird about the current situation the NFCM is in. The center risks closing down in 3 month. The Inter-Tribal Youth Centre has already been closed.
CKUT's Off the Hour: The Red Square report on the protest in Le College de Vallefield Part 2
Submitted on April 17, 2012Interview with Emilie Gamelin
Le College de Valleyfield was the first CEGEP to vote in favor of the strike. Earlier this week, the Valleyfield College administration decided to force students to go back to school on Thursday, despite the students voting in favor of prolonging the strike in their last general assembly.
CKUT's Off the Hour: The Red Square report on the protest in Le College de Valleyfield Part 1
Submitted on April 17, 2012Interview with Emilie Gamelin
Le College de Valleyfield was the first CEGEP to vote in favor of the strike.
The State Will Never Protect Those They Are at War With: Occupy Oakland, Permitted Protest and Police Repression
Submitted on April 17, 2012By MIKE KING - Counterpunch
It is an understatement to say [migrant] communities are at risk just trying to work and live in this country. More fundamentally this critique is about the inherent problems involved with seeking state-sanctioned tools to protect people that inadvertently turn into highly effective instruments of police repression. We are all in the streets...because the State is not an arbiter of justice. Entrusting the State with legitimate jurisdiction over our actions does not guarantee security – it guarantees insecurity and future repression.
CKUT's Off the Hour: The impact of Bill C-31 on LBGTQ refugees
Submitted on April 17, 2012Interview with Ed Lee
Global Day of Action on Military Spending in Halifax - Pictorial
Submitted on April 17, 2012Halifax, Nova Scotia – Members of Halifax Voice of Women for Peace, the Halifax Peace Coalition, the Raging Grannies and their friends today gathered outside the Spring Garden Branch Library to mark the second annual Global Day of Action on Military Spending.
"Suicide by Economic Crisis:" How Many Have to Die Before We Kill the False Religion of Austerity?
Submitted on April 17, 2012By Lynn Parramore - AlterNet
Before the 2007 global financial meltdown, suicides in European Union countries had fallen sharply among people under age 65. Now, thanks to misguided economic programs and the sheer greed of financiers, that trend has abruptly reversed...The new wave of suicides tracks closely with rising unemployment...Ever more draconian austerity measures that strip income and social aid act as a toxin, leaving the population so stricken that for some, dying seems the only relief.
Bosses and Media Braying for New Assault on Canadian Auto Workers
Submitted on April 17, 2012By Carl Bronski - WSWS
A recently released report from the Montreal-based Institute for Research on Public Policy (IRPP) argues that the wages of auto workers in Canada should be reduced by $10 per hour or about a third, in order to more closely align them with the country’s average manufacturing wage. The report comes in the lead-up to the opening of negotiations this summer for new contracts between the Big Three Detroit automakers and the Canadian Autoworkers union (CAW).
What Capitalism Delivers
Submitted on April 17, 2012By Richard D. Wolff - Znet
...[T]he chief political parties, politicians, lobbyists, and their allies in the media and academia have all performed in unison to celebrate capitalism...Their mantra has been "capitalism delivers the goods"...Behind the protective cover of a near total ban on criticism, the US capitalist system deteriorated...Since this crisis began in 2007, capitalism has been "delivering the bads" to most of us...Capitalism's uncritical boosters are now pressing the government to cut back public services just as the mass of Americans need them more than ever.
We Are the Riot: The Truth About Vancouver's History of Civil Unrest
Submitted on April 17, 2012By Garth Mullins - rabble.ca
Police are distributing wanted posters featuring the caught-in-the-act faces of last year’s still-at-large Stanley Cup rioters. Trials are commencing for those already charged and municipal authorities fret about the possibility of burning cars and broken windows again this year. As well they should. Riots are part of this city’s DNA, buried deep in the double helix of logging, fishing, lattes and condos.
Toronto In Review: March
Submitted on April 16, 2012City workers make concessions, ban on brothels overturned, Occupy Toronto back in the news
On March 26, an Ontario Court of Appeals decision struck down a ban on brothels. It modified the law against living off the avails of the sex trade so that sex workers can hire staff and, as activist Valerie Scott has memorably pointed out, have housemates and give presents to people without risking their arrest.
Worrisome Security Council Syrian Resolution
Submitted on April 16, 2012Wiggle room in resolution may be used for greater intervention.
Amid Signs of Slump, Australian Labor PM Pledges "Tough" Budget
Submitted on April 16, 2012By Mike Head - 16 April 2012
...Prime Minister Julia Gillard last week emphasized her Labor government’s commitment to deliver a 2012-13 budget surplus in order to satisfy the global financial markets...To meet that pledge in the budget to be delivered on May 8, the government must slash spending by a greater amount than any previous post-war Australian government...Cuts of that magnitude will exceed the total of $35 billion in austerity measures just announced in Spain, which has a comparably-sized economy.
Class War and Imperialism in Greece
Submitted on April 16, 2012Sunday, April 15 2012 - Infoshop News
In order to receive the latest ‘bailout’ from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and European Central Bank (ECB)...[T]he Greek state was told by the German, French and US ruling classes to once again reduce pensions by more than 15%, to fully privatize public utilities, to yet again cut social spending, and to implement more wage cuts...All of this has come on the back of earlier rounds of austerity measures and the Greek working class has been under severe pressure: homelessness has been growing at a rapid rate and the unemployment rate has shot past 20%.
CBC on Quebec student strike: Deploying government discourse?
Submitted on April 16, 2012
CBC news reports are now using inaccurate language to describe the ongoing Québec-wide student strike.
Israel Criminalizes Travel
Submitted on April 16, 2012Travelers beware. Israel criminalized entry earlier. Rogue officials are at it again. At issue are so-called "flytilla" activists. Reports suggest about 1,500 planned West Bank trips. Their purpose is peacefully challenging Israel's illegal occupation and bonding with Palestinians they support.
CKUT's Off the Hour: Red Square Report for Friday, April 13
Submitted on April 16, 2012Gatineau Students Defy Injunction, Barricade Campus
Submitted on April 16, 2012The Université du Québec en Outaouais (UQO) suspended classes on Monday, April 16, as students defied a court injunction and blocked access to the Alexandre-Taché campus building.
Last week, a small group of students opposed to the strike filed an injunction with the Quebec Superior Court to force classes to reopen in the wake of the Quebec-wide student strike.
Sonic Weapon Rushed Through for G20 Summit
Submitted on April 16, 2012TORONTO — The police have tried to convince the public that its Long Range Acoustic Devices (LRAD), purchased for the G8 and G20 summits, were strictly communications devices — that they weren’t to be used as weapons. But internal police intelligence reports suggest otherwise....“This non-lethal weapon can produce permanent ear damage...”
Russia Prepares Austerity Program
Submitted on April 16, 2012By Clara Weiss - 16 April 2012
As has been done in countries around the world, the Russian government is using the global economic crisis to deepen its attack on the working class...The austerity program being prepared by the Kremlin, which is supported by all factions of the ruling elite, will fuel social tensions. The Russian population has already experienced a significant decline in its living standards in the past three years alone.
Photos: Hundreds Rally Against Pipelines and Tankers in Victoria
Submitted on April 15, 2012Hundreds of people gathered on the lawn in front of the provincial legislature on Sunday to participate in a 'Rally Against Enbridge.' After a series of passionate speakers - from young children to First Nations grassroots community leaders - rally participants marched through downtown Victoria to Centennial Square.
Syrian Insurgents Violate Ceasefire
Submitted on April 15, 2012Washington won't tolerate peace and stability. Regime change plans need violence blamed on Assad. That's imperialism's ugly face.
Nuclear Chess
Submitted on April 15, 2012Washington plans regime change in Iran. The nuclear issue is a red herring cover for it.
Student Movement in Quebec: Rousing Speech by CLASSE Spokespeople After Historic 200,000+ Demonstration on March 22nd
Submitted on April 15, 2012This speech (linked immediately below, with recently-added english subtitles included in the video itself) was given by the co-spokespeople (Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois & Jeanne Reynolds) of the Coalition Large de l'Association pour une Solidarité Syndicale Étudiante (ie., the Large Coalition of the Association for Student Union Solidarity), or CLASSE, following the historic demonstration on March 22nd, 2012 that saw over 200,000 people take to the streets of Montreal against tuition fee increases.
U.S. Marines Begin Operations in Northern Australia
Submitted on April 15, 2012By James Cogan - 14 April 2012
Since World War II, Australian imperialism has relied heavily on US backing to assert its strategic and economic interests internationally and within the Asia-Pacific region. In return, Australian governments have supported US foreign policy and sent troops to fight and die in successive US neo-colonial wars, from Korea and Vietnam to Afghanistan and Iraq...Under [the Labor Government of Julia] Gillard, Australia is embroiled in the Obama administration’s escalating diplomatic and strategic confrontation with China.
Capitalism and Colonialism: Moving Forward Looking Back with Gord Hill and Anna Soole
Submitted on April 15, 2012Seeing the Strings started with a discussion addressing:
What is the intertwined history of capitalism and colonialism? How is colonialism still occurring in “Canada” today? What is its violence? How does it affect indigenous people? How does it affect non-indigenous people? What are some indigenous alternatives to capitalism and how to use the land?
Tarek Mehanna: Criminalized for Doing the Right Thing
Submitted on April 15, 2012Mehanna deserves praise, not prison.
Protesters Contest Tickets and Denounce Repression in Montréal
Submitted on April 15, 2012April 11, 2012 - Coop Média de Montréal
People arrested during the demonstration against police brutality on March 15th 2011 gathered today in front of the Municipal Court of Montreal. The Ligue des droits et libertés, the Canadian Civil Liberties Association, the CLASSE Legal Committee, as well as people arrested during the recent student strike were also present in order to denounce the criminalization of political action.
The Summit of the Americas, WikiLeaks and the Failed War on Drugs
Submitted on April 15, 2012By Nikolas Kozloff - 13 April 2012
Unhappy with the Obama administration's failed war on drugs, which has led to widespread violence and endemic corruption, some Latin American leaders are bluntly calling for the decriminalization of narcotics...Facing dwindling support for the drug war, Obama recently dispatched Joe Biden to Mexico and Central America. There, the vice-president restated tired US opposition to drug decriminalization and promised that the Obama administration would ask Congress for additional funding toward a Central American Regional Security Initiative.
Israel's Lawless Settlement Project
Submitted on April 15, 2012Israel wants all valued parts of Judea and Samaria.
Images from the People's Summit march in Cartagena
Submitted on April 14, 2012Images of Saturday's march in Cartagena where thousands protested the closed door negociations of the Summit of the Americas.
Thousands in the Street in Support of Alma's workers
Submitted on April 14, 2012Worldwide Solidarity against Rio Tinto.
Mass Rally in Alma, Quebec
Glorious Day in Alma Affirms the Need to Build the New and Stake Our Claim on the Future
U.S. Conspires with Turkey Over Militarized Buffer Zone Following Syrian Ceasefire
Submitted on April 14, 2012By Chris Marsden - 13 April 2012
Washington has made clear that the ceasefire implemented Thursday is only a staging post in its plan for regime change in Syria...In reality, the Western powers are funding and directing the insurgency through the mechanism of the Syrian National Council and the work on the ground of their regional proxies, most notably Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Qatar.
How Psychiatry Stigmatizes Depression Sufferers
Submitted on April 14, 2012By Bruce E. Levine - AlterNet
Viewing depression as a “brain defect” rather than a “character defect” is supposed to reduce the stigma of depression, according to the American Psychiatric Association, the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill, and the rest of the mental health establishment. But any defect can be stigmatizing. What if depression is the result of neither a brain defect nor a character defect?...The reality is there is no scientific proof that depression is caused by either a character defect or a brain defect.
Ce dimanche 14 avril à l'aéroport de Dorval: Solidarité avec l'action mondiale Bienvenue en Palestine
Submitted on April 14, 2012À l'aéroport de Dorval (Montréal) de 18 h à 20 h ce samedi 14 avril 2012.
Le site Internet de la délégation québécoise !
L'action mondiale Bienvenue en Palestine
Un APPEL INTERNATIONAL
signé par, entre autres ...
Canada Deepens Ties with Deadly Regime
Submitted on April 14, 2012By Jesse Freeston and Stéfanie Clermont - April 13, 2012
In 2011, Honduras became the deadliest country in the world, for those countries which the UN has been able to gather statistics. "Our country of just 8 million people is suffering more than 20 murders per day...Among the victims are around 20 journalists and 424 women. On top of murders, there are death threats, forced disappearances, exile for some and a general criminalization of the social resistance movement.”
Connecting Indigenous Autonomy and Immigration
Submitted on April 14, 2012By Devon G. Peña - April 14, 2012
Regardless of the direction and presumed legitimacy of U.S. immigration law, there are much deeper traditions that Native American and MesoAmerican peoples have practiced and are starting to embrace once again as they negotiate their experience of trans-border citizenship, regardless of the state of exception that seeks to suspend the rule of law and declare the undocumented flow of Natives as the moral equivalent of terrorists and drug runners.
State of the Unions, Part 2: Full Audio
Submitted on April 14, 2012Complete recording of HMC sponsored event now online
On Tuesday April 10, 2012 the Halifax Media Co-op sponsored “State of the Unions, Part Two” took place at JustUs! Cafe on Spring Garden Road in Halifax. The event was recorded for HMC by Allan Bezanson, and Master of Ceremonies was Miles Howe. Featured speakers were:
UPRISING!: Women and the Media, from Tahrir to SlutWalk
Submitted on April 13, 2012The Centre for Peace was abuzz with discussion about gender justice on Saturday, March 31st, as dozens of local feminists, activists, journalists, artists, and others gathered for UPRISING!, WAM! Vancouver's second annual community conference. The local chapter of Women, Action, & the Media (WAM!) hosted the day workshops and discussions as part of a ten-day 'WAM!
Calm Before Greater Storm in Syria
Submitted on April 13, 2012Independent sovereign states aren't tolerated. Replacing them with pro-Western ones is policy. All means are used. They include punishing sanctions, color revolutions, violent coups, subversion, cyberwar, targeted assassinations, armed insurgencies, and war if other methods failed.
European Court's Extradition Ruling and Guantanamo's Global Reach
Submitted on April 13, 2012By Bill Van Auken - WSWS
Tuesday’s ruling by the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) allowing Britain’s extradition of five alleged terror suspects to face trials in the US speaks volumes about the erosion of basic democratic principles throughout Europe...Clearly, the court’s decision was entirely political. It was determined not to antagonize the UK, which in turn was desperate not to antagonize the US, with which it shares a “special relationship” as a junior partner in imperialist plunder.
Colombia: Obama's Bloodiest Betrayal?
Submitted on April 13, 2012By DANIEL KOVALIK, GIMENA SANCHEZ-GARZOLI & ANTHONY DEST - April 11, 2012
...[D]espite continued anti-union violence, the high rate of impunity, serious impediments to union organizing, and the dire conditions faced by workers, President Obama is now poised to announce at the Summit of the Americas that Colombia has complied with the Labor Action Plan...If Obama goes ahead with his plans...to green light the [U.S-Colombia Free Trade Agreement], Colombian and U.S. workers will lose their last bit of leverage to stem the tide of anti-union violence and defend the rights of Colombia’s most vulnerable populations.
In Cartagena, Colombia, summits are underway
Submitted on April 13, 2012Social summits try to co-opt alternative summits
A young boy dips his clothes in the water directly across from where leaders will meet over the week-end, a little further away, right in front of the conference hall, drug vendors and sex workers hang out at the entrance of a bar while thousands of state security forces stand along the city's main roads as if some parade were coming through.
Ozzie Guillen, Free Speech and the Case of Loretta Capeheart
Submitted on April 13, 2012By Dave Zirin - April 12, 2012
We have seen both the Occupy movement and the national struggle to win justice for Trayvon Martin present a new willingness to fight. Attacks on speech are efforts to strangle that impulse in its crib. That’s what makes the legal case of Northeastern Illinois University Professor Loretta Capeheart so critical for anyone who cares about freedom of speech and the ability for us to actually be able to shape our surroundings without fear.
A Major Blow to Democratic Rights: European Court's Extradition Ruling
Submitted on April 13, 2012By Julie Hyland - 12 April 2012
The decision by the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) that [six] men detained on terror-related charges can be extradited to the United States is a major assault on democratic rights...Tuesday’s hearing concerned six men...All are currently held in the UK under US extradition warrants.
The "Negotiations" Fraud: U.S. Propaganda, Iran and the Politics of Nuclear War
Submitted on April 13, 2012By Anthony Dimaggio - Znet
Little outside of fear mongering and hysteria is spoken about Iran in the United States...Americans are being driven to fear a country in which literally no evidence has been presented of a nuclear weapons threat; sanctions are being implemented that devastate the country economically; and war addicts are pushing for immediate escalation despite the fabricated threat. It’s the height of criminality, and like the Iraq war, media pundits and reporters are all pretending not to notice any of it is happening.
Death by a Thousand Cuts: Resistance is Not Futile
Submitted on April 13, 2012By Roger Annis - rabble.ca
Government attacks against worker rights and the social wage are threatening hard-earned gains and advances for workers in Canada on many fronts and in many incremental ways. In this two-part series, we will look [at] some of these struggles and what is at stake...Part 2 takes a look at what must be done if we are to protect individual, public and social rights in Canada.
Anarchist Scholar to Speak in Vancouver Denied Entry to Canada
Submitted on April 13, 2012Abraham P. DeLeon, assistant professor in the College of Education and Human Development at the University of Texas, San Antonio was refused entry to Canada today. He was scheduled to deliver a papers at the American Educational Research Association meeting and the pre-conference meeting of the Rouge Forum @ AERA, both of which are being held in Vancouver, BC this weekend.
Media Scoundrels Promote War
Submitted on April 12, 2012Media scoundrels won't quit until NATO ravages Syria like Libya and other targeted countries. Their support makes war more likely.
A Rusty Mess
Submitted on April 12, 2012Kinder Morgan Announces Pipeline Expansion, Fraser Valley Residents Speak Out
ABBOTSFORD, STO:LO TERRITORY - Residents of Abbotsford, Chilliwack, and the surrounding areas gathered at the University of the Fraser Valley on Wednesday evening to learn more about Kinder Morgan's Trans Mountain pipeline. In many cases, it literally runs through their backyards.
Students occupy uOttawa admin office over tuition fee hike!
Submitted on April 12, 2012uOttawa student resistance continues following last week's BOG disruption
For Immediate Release:
April 12, 2012
Students take action against Board of Governors fee hikes and occupy University of Ottawa President’s Office
[Editor's note: the occupation ended after 4pm on thursday]
Australian Labor Government Reinforces Conspiracy Against Julian Assange
Submitted on April 12, 2012By Mike Head - WSWS
In the lead-up to the impending UK Supreme Court decision on the fate of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, the Australian Labor government has taken several steps that underscore its close involvement in the global operation against him by the Obama administration. Far from protecting any of the basic legal rights of Assange — an Australian citizen — the Gillard government is doing everything it can to help Washington railroad him to jail and silence WikiLeaks.
Israel Declares War on Gunter Grass
Submitted on April 12, 2012Grass touched the right nerves. He deserves praise, not condemnation. Nonetheless, he's vilified for discussing Israel's open secret. It's nuclear armed and dangerous.
Faux Internationalism and Really Existing Imperialism
Submitted on April 12, 2012By Ellen Brun and Jacques Hersh - Monthly Review
...[T]he ideology of “humanitarian interventionism”...can be interpreted as legitimizing a hidden political agenda. It has the potential of blurring existing ideological and political differences between neo-conservatives, liberal internationalists in the United States and Europe, and a large section of left-wing forces around the world. All these currents have found common grounds in vindicating NATO’s military violations of the principle of national sovereignty.
Poorer Families to Lose Up to One-Quarter of Income Due to Government Austerity in Britain
Submitted on April 12, 2012By Robert Stevens - 12 April 2012
Nationally, one in every three children lives in poverty. In some areas, child poverty is between 40 and 50 percent...Statistics alone, however, cannot fully reveal the destructive human cost of such entrenched and wretched conditions...“The children arrive with the telltale signs [of malnutrition]: shrunken faces, sallow skin, dark rings around their eyes and rotting teeth. Some of the 11-year-olds are so underweight and undersized they look like six-year-olds, and those aged six often look only three or four.”
Death by a Thousand Cuts: Teachers, Airline Workers and Canada's Public Pensions
Submitted on April 12, 2012By Roger Annis - April 12, 2012
Government attacks against worker rights and the social wage are threatening hard-earned gains and advances for workers in Canada on many fronts and in many incremental ways. In this two-part series, we will look at some of these struggles and what is at stake, with Part 1 focusing on the teachers' union in British Columbia, airline workers and the public pension.
Colloque international Plan Nord-Plans Sud, Résistances dans les Amériques
Submitted on April 12, 20123e édition du colloque international : Plan Nord, plans Sud
Résistances dans les Amériques :
Crimes socio-environnementaux et minières canadiennes
26 avril 17h30, 27 avril 8h30 et 28 avril 9h00
320 rue Ste-Catherine Est, Pavillon J.-A.-DeSève, salle DS-R525, Université du Québec à Montréal
Panels et ateliers participatifs
Violence légitime, mon oeil!
Submitted on April 11, 2012Quand ils coupent les programmes sociaux
Qui demandent aux pauvres de travailler plus
Pour que les riches payent moins d’impôts
On se statch tous ensemble dans les bureaux d’la Loto
Pis on chante des beaux slogans, on est bin belles on est bin beaux
On reste, on reste, on reste pacifique
Abdulhadi Alkhawaja Near Death
Submitted on April 11, 2012Bahrain and Washington want him silenced, not heard.
U.S. and NATO Powers Intensify Threats Against Syria
Submitted on April 11, 2012By Bill Van Auken - WSWS
Endorsed by the [UN] Security Council as well as the Arab League and accepted by the government of President Bashar al-Assad, it is becoming increasingly apparent that the Annan plan, as far as Washington, the Western European powers, Turkey and the reactionary Gulf oil sheikdoms are concerned, represented merely a ploy aimed at legitimizing imperialist intervention.
Justice for Rachel Corrie Delayed
Submitted on April 11, 2012On March 16, 2003, an Israeli bulldozer driver murdered Rachel in cold blood. Her family still seeking justice so far denied.
The Christian Right Quiz
Submitted on April 11, 2012By Jeffrey Rudolph - Z Magazine
Traditional evangelicals, approximately 12 percent of the U.S. population, are overwhelmingly Republican, openly hostile to democratic pluralism, and promote policies that deny the civil rights of others...While they insist on tolerance for their brand of Christianity, it is clear that they would not provide the same tolerance to others.
Boat Harbour Pictorial
Submitted on April 11, 2012BOAT HARBOUR, NOVA SCOTIA - The brown, steaming waters of Boat Harbour, churned to a foaming mix by mechanical aerators, provides a striking example of industry laying absolute waste to a once pristine environment.
Missing Justice: Organizations Affirm Boycott of Missing Women Commission of Inquiry
Submitted on April 11, 2012Representatives from fifteen Indigenous, Downtown Eastside, and women's organizations gathered for a press conference in the Union of BC Indian Chiefs (UBCIC) boardroom yesterday morning to affirm their boycott of the Missing Women Commission of Inquiry.
Protesters contest tickets and denounce repression
Submitted on April 11, 2012Des manifestantEs arrêtéEs contestent leurs contraventions et dénoncent la répression
Français ci dessous
The Winds of War
Submitted on April 11, 2012When Washington plans regime change, wars are waged if other methods fail. For over a year, Western-generated violence ravaged Syria. Assad remains firmly in control. As a result, expect war. All signs suggest it.
What is ObamaCare?
Submitted on April 11, 2012By PAUL CRAIG ROBERTS - April 11, 2012
...ObamaCare is before the US Supreme Court...Hypocrisy should no longer surprise us. However, the fight over ObamaCare is not worth five cents...It is extraordinary that “liberals,” “progressives” [and] “Democrats”...are defending a “health program” that uses public monies to pay private insurance companies and that raises the cost of health care.
British Government Proposes Extension of State Surveillance
Submitted on April 11, 2012By Paul Bond - 11 April 2012
Britain’s Conservative-Liberal Democrat government has announced plans to extend wider state surveillance across e-mail, telephone and social media communications. Senior government officials have made clear their determination to press ahead with these and other proposals that would strengthen the repressive apparatus of the state.
Obama Turns Super-Hawk
Submitted on April 11, 2012By Danny Schechter - Znet
For years now, the president...has sought to keep the messengers of patriotically correct banalities off guard with a slew of hawkish/hard-line foreign policy initiatives...He escalated the two big wars he inherited with "surges" in Iraq and Afghanistan as well as drone offensives associated with continuing...civilian deaths...He turned the covert-action Seals units into a Presidential-sanctioned assassination squad and, then, practically went steady with the Pentagon.
Bored But Not Broken: Women, the Police and International Days
Submitted on April 11, 2012By Mandy Hiscocks - April 11, 2012
OK, I've re-sent this blog post twice through the mail and have waited over three weeks for it to arrive. It still hasn't arrived. Here it is, dictated over the phone...This post is going to be a bit of a downer, so I wrote myself a reminder to start it on a happy note...[T]he best thing of all is that two full months into my sentence I'm still feeling quite positive about this whole situation. In the words of a friend who knows what it's like -- I appear to be winning at jail.
Hell is Other Workers
Submitted on April 11, 2012LIVESTREAM of blockade at Banque National by CUTV
Submitted on April 11, 2012part of an all-day protest against rising tuition fees
The head offices of the National Bank in downtown Montreal have been blockaded by striking students since approximately 7:30 this morning. Non-stop live coverage is unfolding courtesy of Concordia University Television (CUTV), a member owned and operated campus/community TV and video production studio.
Downtown Eastside not for Developers!
Submitted on April 10, 2012NAFTA Partners Take Steps to Boost Trilateral Relationship
Submitted on April 10, 2012By Dana Gabriel
Mexico’s drug war is increasingly being seen as a continental problem that requires continental solutions which is further pushing the NAFTA partnership into a common security front. This is escalating the militarization of the borders, integration in areas of law enforcement and the military, as well as advancing the development of a North American security perimeter.
George Soros Targets Syria
Submitted on April 10, 2012Soros' Open Society Foundations pretend to be liberal. Their claimed mission is to "work to build vibrant and tolerant democracies whose governments are accountable to their citizens." In fact, Soros, like other corporate predators, doesn't tolerate democratic values. He's no populist. He supports everything that smells money. He's involved in grabbing all he can.
"They want to turn 100 block into Smallville"--DTES residents say NO to Sequel 138
Submitted on April 10, 2012DTES residents gather to voice opposition to Sequel 138 Condos in the heart of their community.
On April 9th at 11am, about 100 Downtown Eastside residents gathered, along with interested community workers and media, to discuss Se
Venezuela: 10 Years After Coup, U.S. Lies Shows New War Drive
Submitted on April 10, 2012By Eva Golinger - Saturday, April 7, 2012
Ever since the US-supported coup attempt against President Hugo Chavez in Venezuela failed in April 2002, Washington has been pursuing a variety of strategies to remove the overwhelmingly popular South American head of state from power...Multi-million-dollar funding to anti-Chavez groups in Venezuela through US government agencies...has increased exponentially over the past ten years, as has direct political support through advisors, strategists and consultants -- all aiming to help an unpopular and outdated opposition rise to power.
Who Bombed Judi Bari?
Submitted on April 10, 2012By Robert Meeropol - April 10, 2012
Judi was a remarkably dynamic person. She was a union organizer, carpenter, musical performer and environmental firebrand who led Earth First’s efforts to save Northern California old growth Redwoods from corporate clear cutting in the late 1980’s. Judi was blown up in her car in Oakland, California in May 1990 while she was in the midst of organizing Earth First’s “Redwood Summer Campaign,” a daring plan to bring thousands of young people into the forests to disrupt the summer logging efforts.
Scoundrels Assail Gunter Grass Truths
Submitted on April 10, 2012Touching the most sensitive nerves has risks. Nearly always hostile responses follow. Gunter Grass took the risks. He acted forthrightly. His new poem "What Must Be Said" explained that he'll no longer be silent on what's long been known but virtually never discussed publicly.
U.S. and Israel Issue Ultimatums to Iran
Submitted on April 10, 2012By Peter Symonds - WSWS
On the eve of international talks, the US and Israel have issued provocative ultimatums to Iran to dismantle key aspects of its nuclear program or face devastating economic sanctions and the prospect of war.
Big Trouble in Little Havana
Submitted on April 10, 2012By Dave Zirin - April 9, 2012
...[T]his had to have been Miami Marlins owner Jeffrey Loria’s worst nightmare. Loria was opening a new state-of-the-art, tax-funded stadium in Little Havana that will cost the city $2 billion over the next forty years...This was the last, best, chance to sell baseball in South Florida. Loria desperately needed a hot start for his team and some sugary-sweet media coverage for his new ballpark. Then his new manager, Ozzie Guillen, decided to share his views about Cuba and Fidel Castro.
Potty Panic in Parliament: Conservative MP Links Trans Women with Sexual Predators
Submitted on April 10, 2012By Mercedes Allen - April 10, 2012
The idea behind human rights is that they're universal. Every person deserves to be judged according to their merits and faults, and not by the myths and prejudices that are associated with a particular characteristic. Although we don't name every characteristic in human rights laws, every so often we discover that one exists for whom the myths and prejudices are so distorted that discrimination is not only likely, but inevitable.
Reality in Occupied Palestine
Submitted on April 9, 2012Gaza's attacked regularly. Dozens of West Bank incursions occur weekly. Police state harshness and arrests follow. In the week ending April 5, one Palestinian was killed and dozens injured, including 18 children. They were nonviolently commemorating Land Day.
Imperialist Powers Manipulate Syrian Peace Plan to Prepare for War
Submitted on April 9, 2012By Johannes Stern - 9 April 2012
In recent days, the Western powers have stepped up efforts to foment civil war in Syria and prepare for imperialist intervention in this strategically important country. Media reports indicate increased fighting between Western-backed armed groups and the Syrian army, accompanied by terrorist attacks on government forces and civilians.
"Everyone Will Be Affected"
Submitted on April 9, 2012Unions, solidarity, and the federal budget
It was losing her job that first got Jeannie Baldwin involved in the union movement. Her position with the Department of Employment and Immigration was one of 10 that was affected by federal government downsizing at the time. Baldwin went to her union, filed a grievance, and was able to get her job back.
Obama Wreaks Duplicity
Submitted on April 9, 2012Like most in Congress, Obama serves wealth and power alone. People's needs don't matter. Rule of law principles are spurned. Peace is deplored. War is official policy.
A Question of Human Rights: Keeping the F1 Racing Series Out of Bahrain
Submitted on April 9, 2012By Dave Zirin - April 9, 2012
For the Bahraini royals, staging the Formula 1 race is a chance to show the people that normalcy has returned following last year’s massive pro-democracy protests. In 2011, the race was canceled to the rage of the royals. Now, the royal family is hoping that the sixty people slaughtered by Bahraini and Saudi forces, as well as the thousands arrested and tortured, can be forgotten in the roar of the engines.
Why One of the World's Leading Peace Advocates Threatened to Punch Me in the Face
Submitted on April 9, 2012By Stephen Zunes - AlterNet
I have rarely ever come face to face...with such anger. Certainly not at an academic conference. And certainly not from such a prominent figure: chancellor of Australian National University, former attorney-general and foreign minister...and one of the world’s most prominent global thinkers...Yet here I was with Gareth Evans, cursing at me, ripping my badge off, and threatening to punch me in the face...What prompted his outburst was my raising the issue of his support for the Suharto dictatorship in Indonesia during its savage repression in the occupied island nation of East Timor.
Quebec Authorities Seeking to Criminalize Student Strike
Submitted on April 9, 2012By Richard Dufour - WSWS
Quebec’s Liberal government is using repression — arrests, court injunctions and the threat of canceling the winter semester — to force an end to a nearly two-month-long strike of university and CEGEP...students. Nevertheless, almost 200,000 students are continuing to boycott classes to oppose the Charest Liberal government’s plan to raise university tuition fees by 75 percent over the next five years, beginning in September.
Economic Crisis and Austerity: The Stranglehold on Canada's Families
Submitted on April 9, 2012By Adrie Naylor - Znet Commentary
One of the key political and economic goals of neo-liberal capitalism has been to individualize and re-privatize the responsibility for caring, socially reproductive labour. The social supports that are currently provided by the state, victories of previous waves of feminist and working-class mobilization, have long been targets for rollback. When Margaret Thatcher proclaimed, "there is no society," she was articulating precisely this neo-liberal logic: there should exist no support, no caring labour outside the family.
Increased development pressures on the Nepawin Creek, Lily Creek wetland.
Submitted on April 9, 2012The Nepahwin Creek, Lily Creek wetland area provides a good example of the development pressures faced by wetlands and floodplains throughout Greater Sudbury. In the early 1970’s a community led OMB appeal protected a large portion of this wetland, rejecting the proposed development of a shopping centre. After the construction of playing fields later that decade, it faced 
Abdulhadi Alkhawaja: Dying for Justice
Submitted on April 8, 2012Bahrain's Al-Khalifa monarchy is one of the world's most ruthless despotic regimes. It's also a valued US ally.
Friends of Syria Subvert Peaceful Resolution
Submitted on April 8, 2012Washington-backed so-called "Friends" won't tolerate resolving Syrian violence peacefully. How can they when America, rogue NATO partners, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and other regional despots incited it, fund it, arm it, and continue it.
Accessible Education in Quebec: A Societal Choice
Submitted on April 8, 2012Since the beginning of 2012, I've been sporting a red felt square. Today, it's quite the fashion statement in Quebec. But it was only last week that I noticed how worn my red square had become. After several months, it's now frayed at the edges with bumps starting to appear.
Obama Justice Department Indicts Ex-CIA Agent for Exposing Torture
Submitted on April 8, 2012By Bill Van Auken - WSWS
Thursday’s indictment of John Kiriakou for exposing CIA torture of detainees confirms yet again that the Obama administration is continuing and deepening the crimes carried out by the Bush White House. Kiriakou, a CIA agent for 14 years, is being prosecuted for speaking to two journalists about the water-boarding of Abu Zubaydah.
The G20's Accused Two Years Later: Dan Kellar
Submitted on April 8, 2012Over the last two years, activist journalist Dan Kellar has watched many of his friends get arrested, face harsh bail conditions and serve jail time for their involvement in protests against the G20 summit in Toronto in 2010. Although he was not himself charged, as a member of AW@L and the Southern Ontario Anarchist Resistance, he worked closely with activists facing conspiracy charges.
"Christians" Threaten School Board Trustees Over Bible Ban
Submitted on April 8, 2012April 8, 2012 - CBC News
A public school board's decision to ban distribution of Gideon Bibles to its young students has unleashed a torrent of threatening calls and hateful emails directed at trustees...Some messages to the Bluewater District School Board express racist sentiment and question trustees' patriotism...Trustee Fran Morgan called the "onslaught" of messages "really disturbing"..."I really do feel threatened by it..."
Making Moo-ves!
Submitted on April 8, 2012East Coast Organic Milk Cooperative set to provide local, organic, milk in Nova Scotia by mid-June.
Halifax - Nova Scotians may be pouring their first glasses of local organic milk this coming June. It’s a big moment for organic dairy farmers, who have finally found a way to market their milk locally.
Obama Authorizes Greater Wall Street Theft
Submitted on April 7, 2012Obama gives Wall Street greater license to steal.
Mental Health, Worker Health, Community Health
Submitted on April 7, 2012An interview with Kelly Murphy on recent cuts at the IWK
Halifax - "It's moving backwards," says Kelly Murphy of the recent decision to cut 22 of 83 youth care workers from the IWK Health Centre’s mental health and addictions programs. "We need to increase funding and support.
Viktor Bout: Victimized by U.S. Injustice
Submitted on April 7, 2012Bout was illegally entrapped and framed.
Police Violently Break up Protests Following Suicide in Athens
Submitted on April 7, 2012By Christoph Dreier - 7 April 2012
[Dimitris] Christoulas killed himself with a handgun in Athens’ central Syntagma Square, in front of the Greek parliament where a series of brutal cuts packages have been passed in recent months. In a letter he explained that he preferred to take his life with dignity rather than end up scavenging through garbage looking for food. He urged young people to rise up against the government, which he compared to the puppet regime under Nazi occupation during World War II.
Trayvon Martin and America's Long History of Legalized Murder
Submitted on April 7, 2012By Michael Gould-Wartofsky - Znet
The recent record of the justice system testifies all too eloquently to the priorities that continue to guide its judgments: the priority of white life over Black life, indeed of white property over Black life, and of the liberties of white citizens over the rights of everyone else. Small wonder, then, that it is Black youth who are disproportionately stopped, frisked, arrested, prosecuted, incarcerated -- and, increasingly, executed, with or without a trial.
The Roots of Mass State Surveillance and Police Repression: Insecure in the Security State
Submitted on April 7, 2012By HOWARD LISNOFF - April 6-8, 2012
In order to understand the roots of contemporary police repression in the United States, readers need to return to the Vietnam War era and the attempt of the government to squelch political activism through the use of a centralized system of monitoring and responding to domestic social action and peace movements.
CKUT Off the Hour: “À qui profite le Plan Nord?”, une nouvelle recherche de l’IRIS
Submitted on April 6, 2012Entrevue avec le chercheur principal, Bertrand Schepper
L’institut de recherche et d’informations socio-économique (IRIS) vient de publier une nouvelle recherche sur le Plan Nord, “À qui profite le Plan Nord?&rdq
Draconian Cybersecurity Bills
Submitted on April 6, 2012Bipartisan complicity is involved in hyping cyber threats. At issue is promoting draconian cyber-security legislation. Internet freedom is at stake. So are other civil liberties.
The Repression Against Workers and Youth in Spain
Submitted on April 6, 2012By Alejandro López - WSWS
Last week’s general strike in Spain displayed the readiness of the working class to resist the austerity measures being imposed by the right-wing Popular Party (PP) government, the European Union and the International Monetary Fund...The fierce repression meted out by the police during the strike and its aftermath is a warning of the ruling elite’s response to this mass outpouring of defiance.
How the Young Are Indoctrinated to Obey
Submitted on April 6, 2012By Noam Chomsky - April 4, 2012
Forty years ago there was deep concern that the population was breaking free of apathy and obedience. Since then, many measures have been taken to restore discipline.
Canada's Austerity Budget Wonderland
Submitted on April 6, 2012By Dave Broad - April 2, 2012
Canada's federal and provincial governments are falling in with other Western countries in delivering austerity budgets that foist costs of the global capitalist crisis onto the backs of workers and the poor. Canada's federal government is trying to package its latest austerity budget as something that must be done to reduce government debts and deficits but really won't hurt too bad. Listening to the spin put on this is much like a trip through Alice's surreal Wonderland.
Pentagon Clears Way for Military Trial of Five Charged in 9/11 Attacks
Submitted on April 6, 2012By Bill Van Auken - 6 April 2012
From the standpoint of the US state and its intelligence apparatus, this pseudo-legal forum holds obvious attractions. It will allow the authorities...to quash any dispute over the decade of illegal detention and prolonged torture to which the defendants have been subjected and...to control testimony and evidence so as to prevent any inconvenient revelations surrounding the September 11 events themselves and the longstanding connections between Al Qaeda and the CIA.
The Pain in Spain
Submitted on April 6, 2012Ireland, Portugal, Italy, Belgium and Spain replicate Greece in slow motion, gain speed, and head toward a similar train wreck. France, the Netherlands, and other troubled European Union economies follow close behind.
10 Unbelievably Shitty Things America Does to Homeless People
Submitted on April 6, 2012By Tana Ganeva - April 5, 2012
"When the federal government created the homelessness crisis, local governments did not have the means of addressing the issue. So they use the police to manage homeless people's presence"...At about the same time, the arrest-happy "broken windows theory," which encourages law enforcement to bust people for "quality of life" crimes, offered ideological support for finding novel ways to legally harass people on the street.
Racial Injustice in America: The Police Killing of Kenneth Chamberlain
Submitted on April 6, 2012By Amy Goodman - April 5, 2012
"My name is Kenneth Chamberlain. This is my sworn testimony. White Plains police are going to come in here and kill me"...And that's just what they did...In the early hours of Saturday, Nov. 19, 2011, U.S. Marine veteran Kenneth Chamberlain Sr. accidentally hit his LifeAid medical-alert pendant, presumably while sleeping...Within two hours, the White Plains, N.Y., police department broke down his apartment door and shot him dead.
CKUT Radio: Artist Seth Tobocman
Submitted on April 6, 2012listen to interview with NYC artist Seth Tobocman
Listen to an interview with New York City artist Seth Tobocman on the recently released book Understanding the Crash, co-authored with writer Eric Laursen. This interview details the way that Tobocman, long time grassroots activist/artist, worked to respond to the US financial crisis via graphics.
Unions in the Broader Community
Submitted on April 5, 2012CLC Rep Tony Tracy on union work in the non-unionized and international context
Tony Tracy got his first unionized job at 17. He grew up in the New Brunswick forestry town of Nackawic, and started work in the town’s pulp and paper mill as part of the unionized workforce.
Grève de la faim des Lakotas contre Keystone XL
Submitted on April 5, 2012Gunter Grass Addresses Israel's Nuclear Threat
Submitted on April 5, 2012Writer, poet, playwright, sculptor, artist, and Nobel laureate Gunter Grass is regarded as Germany's most celebrated author.
The "99% Spring" Brings Co-optation into Full Bloom: Counter-Insurgency as Insurgency
Submitted on April 5, 2012By MIKE KING - Counterpunch
Every single Occupation that doesn’t want to turn into nothing more than an ample pool of chumps registering people to vote for the same Obama administration that has declared an all-out war against us, should bring forward a resolution at their General Assembly to condemn this clear attempt to destroy our movement. This isn’t about violence versus non-violence; this is about autonomy versus co-optation. History will not forgive us if we let the "99% Spring" Trojan horse into out movement so that the injustices we rose up against can be perpetuated with our own sanction, in our own name.
The people will not let Fracking be ignored in NS Province House
Submitted on April 5, 2012Gallery of legislature erupts in script-reading protest.
Halifax - On Thursday, April 5th,at 9:00am, MLA Gary Burrill (Colchester-Musquodoboit Valley) presented thousands of signatures from concerned Nova Scotians to the NS House of Assembly, calling for a ban on fracking. This process took about 30 seconds and discussion did not continue further.
"Friends of Syria" — The Antechamber of a Wider Mideast War
Submitted on April 5, 2012By Bill Van Auken - WSWS
What is driving US policy toward Syria is a broader imperialist strategy to offset American capitalism’s economic decline by asserting US hegemony over a broad swathe of territory extending from the Mediterranean to the Indian Ocean and encompassing the key energy producing regions of the Persian Gulf and Central Asia. Washington has waged two wars over the past decade to this end, in Afghanistan and Iraq, and is now preparing a third and far more dangerous attack on the country of 74 million people that lies between them, Iran.
CKUT Off the Hour: Launch of a five-year study on homophobic bullying across North America
Submitted on April 5, 2012Reports of homophobic bullying have skyrocketed in the past couple of years, gaining particular attention in the media because of a numb
ICE Arrest Over 3000 Immigrants in 6 Days, Largest Roundup Ever
Submitted on April 5, 2012By Jorge Rivas - Tuesday, April 3 2012
On Monday, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) announced 3,168 undocumented immigrants were detained over the course of six-days in a national operation the agency dubbed “Cross Check.” According to ICE, the six-day operation was the largest such effort in the agency’s history.
Aramark's 15-Year Contract at Trent University to Expire 2013; Conflict of Interest and Dirty Tricks Ensue
Submitted on April 5, 2012Conflict of Interest: Trent spends $60k on FsStrategy Consultants who broker deals for Aramark
Video from Inside Minister of Education's Office
Submitted on April 5, 2012Refugee Rights!
Submitted on April 5, 2012Vancouver Latin American Communities Spearhead Rally to Defeat Bill C-31
Chants against Bill C-31 rang out in Spanish at the intersection of West Georgia and Hamilton on Wednesday afternoon, when dozens of people gathered in front of the Immigration and Refugee Board office to protest the proposed reforms to Canada's refugee determination system.
U.S. Belligerency Risks Global War
Submitted on April 5, 2012The business of America is war. Since WW II, permanent war for unchallenged global dominance became policy. Obama is America's latest warrior president. Many others preceded him. More than ever, today's threat is grave.
Refugee & Immigrant Rights Groups Occupy MP Offices to Oppose Bill C-31
Submitted on April 5, 2012Police Pepper Spray Students Protesting Tuition Hikes in California
Submitted on April 5, 2012By Kevin Martinez - 5 April 2012
On Tuesday, dozens of students were pepper sprayed by campus police at Santa Monica College while protesting outside a Board of Trustees meeting...At least two people were hospitalized and several others injured when a crowd of 100 people tried to enter the room where the meeting was being held. Students were opposed to plans for a two-tier tuition scheme, whereby the college will charge students triple for popular courses that fill up quickly.
Tensions Rise During Anti-Police Brutality Protest
Submitted on April 5, 2012By Eric Mark Do - Toronto Media Co-op
On March 15, the International Day Against Police Brutality, a protester ended up on the ground - allegedly the result of police interference...“Two officers scissored me with their bikes and proceeded to knock me over...The rear officer then pressed down on my ankle with his bike while I was on the ground”...[M]any protesters noted the irony of an alleged incident of police brutality happening at a rally aimed against it.
Deciphering Right-Wing Code: What Conservatives Are Really Saying When They Spew Nonsense
Submitted on April 5, 2012By Sara Robinson - AlterNet
Right-wing crusades almost always start with think-tank reports; and are issuized on the pages of conservative magazines and newspapers. From there, the ideas are picked up and disseminated by Fox, politicians, conservative ministers, and right-wing bloggers. If all goes well, within weeks, legislators will be paying attention, and lobbyists will be presenting them with ready-written legislation to propose to deal with this manufactured "problem."
East Timor: A Lesson in Why the Poorest Threaten the Powerful
Submitted on April 5, 2012By John Pilger - April 05, 2012
...[N]ot even Pol Pot succeeded in killing, proportionally, as many Cambodians as the Indonesian dictator Suharto killed or starved in East Timor...Unlike Muammar al-Gaddafi and Saddam Hussein, Suharto died peacefully in 2008...He was never at risk of prosecution by the “international community”. Margaret Thatcher told him, “You are one of our very best and most valuable friends.” The Australian Prime Minister Paul Keating regarded him as a father figure. A group of Australian newspaper editors...flew to Jakarta to pay their tribute to the dictator; there is a picture of one of them bowing.
RCMP Targeted Activist Groups Long Before G20 Arrests
Submitted on April 5, 2012By Jesse Rosenfeld - rabble.ca
When public safety minister Vic Toews introduced his new anti-terrorism strategy last month, many were stunned to discover the feds were targeting groups -- [environmental], native and others -- as sources of extremism...But for those who've been making their way through the thousands of pages of RCMP and [Ontario Provincial Police] documents pertaining to the G20 released under freedom of information, this shadowing of dissenting [organizations] didn't come as a major surprise.
Ontario and Quebec Students for Free Education Occupy Office of Ont. Education Minister
Submitted on April 5, 2012Harper Agenda: Fisheries and Oceans – Sweeping Nation-Wrecking Transformation
Submitted on April 4, 2012IN OCTOBER 2011, the Harper government sent a memo to employees at the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) outlining steps being taken to “transform” the management of Canadian fisheries. At the same time, Minister of Fisheries and Oceans Keith Ashfield began holding consultations on “modernizing” the Canadian fisheries.
ICC Absolves Israeli Lawlessness
Submitted on April 4, 2012Established by the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC) on July 1, 2002, it's mandated to prosecute individuals for genocide and aggression, as well as crimes or war and against humanity. Instead, it functions solely as an imperial tool. It supports wealth and power. It targets independent states Washington and other Western nations oppose. In the process, it lets America and rogue NATO powers get away with murder.
Refugee Rights Activists Are Occupying Conservative MP Offices and Dropping Banners in Seven Cities
Submitted on April 4, 2012By No One Is Illegal - April 4, 2012
In a coordinated effort on Refugee Rights Day, members of refugee and immigrant rights groups including No One Is Illegal are occupying Conservative MP offices in Ottawa, Toronto, St. Catharines, Edmonton, and Vancouver Coast Salish Territories. Banners have also been dropped in Montreal and Halifax. These actions are being organized to demand that the Refugee Exclusion Act, Bill C-31, be discarded.
Union Complicity in UK Minimum Wage Freeze
Submitted on April 4, 2012By Paul Bond - WSWS
In its annual review of minimum wage standards last month, the government announced that the minimum wage for young people is to be frozen. With inflation running at 3.6 percent, over 1 million low-paid young workers have effectively been handed a wage cut...The decision has clearly revealed the role of the unions in implementing attacks on wages and conditions. The government’s decision was based on recommendations made by the Low Pay Commission (LPC). One third of the LPC’s commissioners are trade union officials.
Photos: Rally to Defeat Bill C-31! // Fotos: Protesta para derrotar el proyecto de ley C-31!
Submitted on April 4, 2012EN: Click on any photo to see the whole image and/or to scroll through the set. A press release by the Movement in Defense of Human Rights of Immigrants and Refugees is below, and an article will be coming soon.
An 'Omnibus' Budget that Confirms the Conservatives' Authoritarian Tendencies
Submitted on April 4, 2012By Karl Nerenberg - April 2, 2012
All in all, this budget -- when taken together with the rest of this government's agenda, and its attitude toward parliament -- reveals a political philosophy that you could call authoritarian conservatism...We used to have Progressive Conservatives; the current crop is a different breed.
PHOTOS: Occupations and banner drops against changes to refugee law, Bill C-31
Submitted on April 4, 2012Migrant and refugee rights activists across Canada have occupied and dropped banners today as part of a concerted campaign against Bill C-31, which is being refered to as the The Refugee Exclusion Act.
Israel Plans Theft of 10% More West Bank Land
Submitted on April 4, 2012Israel occupies Gaza, East Jerusalem, and the West Bank illegally. Its settlements, closed military zones, tourist sites, and commercial areas control over 40% of the West Bank, including its most valued resource rich parts - notably water.
Why Is the U.S. Military Still Using Violence-Linked Lariam?
Submitted on April 4, 2012By Martha Rosenberg - April 3rd, 2012
The label on the malaria drug...warns of psychosis, hallucinations, delusions, paranoia, aggression, tremors, confusion, abnormal dreams and suicide...A 27-year old Air Force Staff Sgt....told United Press International he...experienced delusions, hallucinations, blackouts and frightening flashes of anger after taking just five doses of Lariam.
Stephen Harper's Farcical, Cowardly and Insulting Hearings
Submitted on April 4, 2012By INGMAR LEE - April 03, 2012
Although I am one of the 4000 who have registered to speak at the hearings, I know that this is a totally corrupt, farcical charade that will ultimately rubber-stamp the “Stephen Harper Pipeline/Tanker Scheme”...All along I have believed that this horrible process should have been utterly boycotted right from the start. People should not have to waste their time defending their lands and waters from this hideous Harper monstrosity through this contrived, farcical and corrupt process.
Refugee rights activists are occupying Conservative MP offices and dropping banners in SEVEN cities
Submitted on April 4, 2012In a coordinated effort on Refugee Rights Day, members of refugee and immigrant rights groups including No One Is Illegal are occupying Conservative MP offices in Ottawa, Toronto, St. Catharines, Edmonton, and Vancouver Coast Salish Territories. Banners have also been dropped in Montreal and Halifax.
The Safe Streets and Communities Act: Neo-Conservative Crime and Cruelty
Submitted on April 4, 2012By Sheryl Jarvis - Toronto Media Co-op
Harper's political base doesn’t care much about sound statistics and proven best practices. Especially not if these are competing with the satisfaction obtained through retribution and high profit margins. The hang ‘em high approach has been used successfully in the past by the Harris government in Ontario. During the 90’s they made “war on the poor”, demonizing us...while simultaneously cutting the services and welfare rates that could have prevented many from becoming addicted and criminalized in the first place.
Why the Federal Government Picked a Fight with Charities
Submitted on April 4, 2012By Michael Orsini - April 2, 2012
Buried in the so-called “austerity” budget and its overhaul of Old Age Security, among other big-ticket items that elicited media attention, is a direct attack on charities and what they do...The budget opines that there are concerns “that some charities may not be respecting the rules regarding political activities.” The Harper government has empowered the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) to monitor closely the activities of groups that claim charitable tax status, to ensure that they are not spending too much time being, well, political.
Australian Labor Government Boosts Police and Parole Powers
Submitted on April 4, 2012By Mike Head - 4 April 2012
These measures cannot be explained by any increase in organized crime, or terrorism. It is clear...that the political and security establishment is preparing for heightened social and political unrest as the global economic crisis produces deeper budget cuts, job losses, inequality and social distress...Last year, both the [Australian Federal Police] chief Tony Negus and the [Australian Security Intelligence Organisation] director general David Irvine publicly warned that the protests and turmoil in Egypt and across Europe could spread to Australia.
Bill C-31 Will Destroy Key Aspects of Canada's Refugee System
Submitted on April 4, 2012By Edward C. Corrigan - April 4, 2012
The new bill...proposes extensive changes to Canada's refugee protection process that build on the changes to the asylum system passed in June 2010 as part of the Conservative government's Balanced Refugee Reform Act...The Justice for Immigrants and Refugees Coalition...has attacked the proposed changes. They state the changes are "unconstitutional" and undermine "Canada's humanitarian traditions" and violate "Canada's international obligations."
Take the Gender Neutral Bathroom Challenge!
Submitted on April 4, 2012Don't use gendered bathrooms in April
Have you ever thought about why bathrooms are gendered? Or what it would be like if you could not use gendered bathrooms? Well, we challenge you to not use them for the month of April.
Republican Paul Ryan's Budget: Cruel and Unusual Punishment
Submitted on April 3, 2012America's middle class is being destroyed.
Hana Shalabi: Not Quite Free at Last
Submitted on April 3, 2012Hana's deportation to Gaza continues her punishment.
Obama Gives Green Light for Punishing Sanctions on Iran
Submitted on April 3, 2012By Bill Van Auken - WSWS
President Barack Obama has issued the green light for punishing new US economic sanctions directed at forcing the Iranian government to submit to Western pressure over its nuclear program by starving the country of oil revenues...These new sanctions...aim to impose a warlike blockade of the Iranian economy by penalizing any government or private entity that carries out financial transactions with the country’s central bank.
The Unmaking and Making of a General Strike in Spain
Submitted on April 3, 2012By PETER GELDERLOOS - Counterpunch
...[W]hen March 29 arrived, Spain slowed down almost to a halt. At the crack of dawn, cities across the country were paralyzed by barricades of burning tires. Highways and rail lines were also blocked. In the ports they stopped unloading all but the perishable goods. Participation in the strike was calculated at 77% over all...In mining and the construction industry the figure stood at 97-100%, in manufacture over 80%...Throughout the morning, pickets in cities large and small roamed the streets and forced unsolidaristic shops to close...Other pickets blocked major avenues or set up barricades and spray-painted banks.
Israel's Assassination of Gazan Leader Lays Groundwork for Iran Attack
Submitted on April 3, 2012By Richard Silverstein - Sunday, 01 April 2012
Gaza has been a regular testing ground for new Israeli weapons systems...The IDF tests its most advanced weaponry under battlefield conditions using Gazans as guinea pigs. This, in turn, allows Israel both to use the weapons in other theaters of battle and to promote the systems when they are sold to foreign buyers. The strategy serves multiple purposes, including suppressing the resistance and lethality of Gaza militants, promoting Israeli readiness to battle other foes, and supporting the powerful economic engine of the Israeli defense and aerospace industry.
Friends of Syria Declare War on Assad
Submitted on April 3, 2012On April 1 in Istanbul, Washington-led rogue leaders discussed ways to destabilize and topple Assad. Washington and rogue NATO partners plan conflict, not peace. They want Assad replaced by someone they control. Violence rages to achieve it. Expect lots more followed by war if current efforts fail.
Spain Unveils €27 Billion in Budget Cuts
Submitted on April 3, 2012By Alejandro López - 3 April 2012
On Friday, Spain’s Popular Party government announced €27.3 billion (US$36.4 billion) in cuts to the 2012 budget. With cuts equivalent to 2.5 percent of gross domestic product (GDP), the budget is the most austere since the fascist dictatorship...The latest measures come on top of the €15 billion in cuts pushed through by the social democrat Spanish Socialist Workers Party government of José Zapatero in May 2010.
The Surveillance against Camas and Spartacus
Submitted on April 3, 2012The Vancouver 2010 Integrated Security Unit early on did surveillance of Spartacus Books. It had the old address before the fire. We can see this get updated, and the V2010ISU made sure to grab the old ALF and ELF material that the store had.
Trayvon Martin's Murder Sparks Remobilization
Submitted on April 3, 2012By Horace Campbell - Znet
Trayvon Martin was targeted because he was a black youth and his murder highlights the structural and open violence in the United States. This murder reminded all who were talking about post-racial USA of the deep entrenched racism. Blacks face this racism in all areas of life, from kindergarten, in the school system, on the streets, where they live and in this case how they end their lives.
CKUT Round Table: What Next For the Student Strike?
Submitted on April 3, 2012An in-studio discussion with student and community activists
Audio from a live round-table discussion on CKUT's Off the Hour on Friday, March 30th.
That Sinking Feeling
Submitted on April 2, 2012Penobsquis resident Heather McCabe watches house buckle, bulge, sink
Penobsquis, NB - In 2003, when Heather McCabe bought her homestead in Penobsquis, New Brunswick, she thought it would make the perfect sanctuary for special-needs animals. And it did - that is, until her septic pipe rose out of the ground, her walls started to buckle and bulge, and her well went dry.
Players Getting Played: Why a Look at the NCAA's Past Makes Me Weep for Its Future
Submitted on April 2, 2012By Dave Zirin - April 2, 2012
A very common narrative...is that after this year’s round of March Madness, change will truly be on the march. The argument goes that scandal is so widespread, the NCAA will have to enact common sense reforms or risk collapsing under the weight of its own hypocrisy....As much as I’d like to believe that shame and scandal would cause the NCAA to change in a positive fashion, the past tells us a different story. It’s worth remembering the NCAA's post-war scandals and the change they wrought. This shows in stark terms that when it comes to the NCAA, change doesn’t always mean progress.
Oh Canada!: Imposing Austerity on the World’s Most Resource-Rich Country
Submitted on April 2, 2012By Ellen Hodgson Brown - Dissident Voice
The debt curve that began its exponential rise in 1974 tilted toward the vertical in 1981, when interest rates were raised by the U.S. Federal Reserve to 20%...Canadian rates went as high as 22% during that period. Canada has now paid over a trillion Canadian dollars in interest on its federal debt — nearly twice the debt itself. If it had been borrowing from its own bank all along, it could be not only debt-free but sporting a hefty budget surplus today. That is true for other countries as well.
The View from Istanbul
Submitted on April 2, 2012So-called "Friends of Syria" aren't at all friendly to most Syrians. Syrian National Council/Free Syrian Army hostility is visible in daily violence they commit.
First All-Europe Racist/Fascist Gathering Overshadowed in Denmark
Submitted on April 2, 2012By Ron Ridenour - April 2nd, 2012
Ruling authorities confront the continuing crisis of capitalism by: 1) aiding the very firms that bankrupt the general economy by transferring workers’ taxes to the capitalist class; 2) decreasing the welfare state, throwing huge numbers out of jobs and onto the streets; 3) increasing state repression against those who resist, and by allowing the growth of racist and fascist civilian groups.
U.S.-Led Conference Backs Syrian Puppet Group, Threatens War
Submitted on April 2, 2012By Niall Green - WSWS
Meeting Sunday in the Turkish city of Istanbul, the so-called “Friends of Syria” conference stepped up the US-led campaign to destabilize and oust the government of Syria through a combination of diplomatic maneuvers and direct military interference...Washington leads the group of 74 countries, with the aid of the European powers and the pro-US dictatorships of the Middle East.
Federal Budget Worsens Inequality, High Unemployment Future
Submitted on April 2, 2012By Bruce Campbell - rabble.ca
The 2012 federal budget, which purports to deliver "jobs, growth and long-term prosperity," does nothing of the kind. Make no mistake, this is an austerity budget -- spending cuts out-pace new measures 7:1 -- that worsens income and inter-generational inequality, destroys jobs and locks in a slow growth, high unemployment future.
Obama's War on Iran
Submitted on April 2, 2012Washington's war on Iran includes cyber attacks, other sabotage, targeted assassinations, deadly explosions, sophisticated satellite, drone, and other type spying, bogus accusations, a virtual blockade, hostile saber rattling, multiple rounds of sanctions, and attempts to cripple its central bank and oil industry.
Third lecture completes James Robinson Johnston Distinguished Lecture Series
Submitted on April 2, 2012Dr. Hakim Adi: The White Man's Burden? The New Scramble for Africa
Halifax - The third and final lecture in the James Robinson Johnston (JRJ) Distinguished Lecture Series took place Tuesday, March 20th before a large audience at Dalhousie University in Halifax with “White Man's Burden? The New Scramble for Africa,” a talk by Dr.
Budget 2012: Tories Commit to Treating Im/Migrants as Labour, Not People
Submitted on April 2, 2012By Yen Chu, Syed Hussan and Mary-Elizabeth Dill - April 2, 2012
Let all doubts be put to rest. Immigrants are not human beings, not families, not cultural and social producers, not eating, sleeping, drinking, loving bodies -- just automatons, labour, just the "inputs" necessary for the market to keep pumping profit.
Britain: Inquest into Police Killing of Mark Duggan Sabotaged
Submitted on April 2, 2012By Paul Stuart - 2 April 2012
A public inquest into the killing of Mark Duggan by Metropolitan police officers from the CO19 firearms unit is in doubt after the extraordinary intervention of the Independent Police Complaints Authority IPCC)...The IPCC is meant to investigate police complaints and police conduct and has a long record of willful failure to prosecute abuses. But even by the IPCC’s own standards, its latest actions are extraordinary.
1 thing Ian Brown and I have in common. 6 we don’t.
Submitted on April 2, 2012A response to the Globe & Mail's "Why men can't - and shouldn't - stop staring at women."
Dear Ian Brown,
Les étudiants manifestent contre le Plan Nord
Submitted on April 2, 2012Students protest against the Plan Nord
Les étudiants manifestent contre le Plan Nord
Montreal - 2 avril, 2012 - C’est dans le contexte du mouvement étudiant contre la hausse des frais de scolarité que des universitaires et cégépiens de différentes institutions ont choisi de bloquer l’accès du 800 René-Lévesque Blvd. Ouest à 8 heures ce matin.
Hoody Up Vancouver
Submitted on April 1, 2012March to Defend Public Education
Submitted on April 1, 2012Vancouver Students Rally In Solidarity with Striking Students in Quebec
April 1st, at the Vancouver Art Rallery, a group of a few hundred mostly students gathered to support public education and in support of student stikers in Quebec.
The following is from a pamphlet picket up at the rally:
"Yes, This Is A Strike.
Palestine: Thousands of Children Detained in West Bank
Submitted on April 1, 2012By Jillian Kestler-D’Amours - Green Left Weekly
Recent estimates have found that Israel arrests and detains about 700 Palestinian children annually. This reality has forced Palestinians in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, to develop programs that address the widespread trauma these children exhibit when released from prison...[S]ince 2000, Israel has arrested and detained more than 8000 Palestinian children in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, including some as young as 12.
Budget Awareness Rally at Nova Scotia Legislature
Submitted on April 1, 2012Music, marching and a message of sustainability.
On Tuesday, April 3rd, frustrated but hopeful Haligonians will march to the Nova Scotia Legislature to express their concerns on where their hard-earned tax dollars are being allocated.
The House, which resumed its proceedings on March 29th, will open Tuesday's 2pm assembly with the provincial budget.
Why Does "The Hunger Games" Strike a Chord?
Submitted on April 1, 2012By Christine Schofelt and David Walsh - WSWS
[The Hunger Games] depicts a future North America now named Panem and divided into 12 districts, in which a popular uprising has been violently quashed decades before. A thirteenth district was entirely wiped out in the repression...Panem’s citizens are strictly confined to their respective districts. As punishment for the defeated uprising...each district is also obliged to send one girl and one boy every year...as “Tributes” to the Capitol, where they participate in the Hunger Games, a televised combat staged in uninhabited terrain...that lasts until only one survivor remains.
Imagining the Unthinkable
Submitted on April 1, 2012The combination of America's rage for war, its nuclear arsenal, and global delivery systems makes the unthinkable possible - nuclear war.
How Right-Wing Bullies Blame and Attack the Victims of Violence and Oppression
Submitted on April 1, 2012By Sarah Seltzer - March 30, 2012
For many, it can be less disturbing, simpler to blame the victim than the system...and no one exploits this weakness better than the right wing. Any time there's been a major backlash to a social movement, from civil rights to feminism to AIDS activism, the right has followed a similar victim-blaming script. The message gets injected into the culture: Black poverty is a symptom of pathology. Rape victims are asking for it. AIDS sufferers are being punished for their lifestyles...And now...a dead young boy with skittles and iced tea in his hands had it coming.
When Non-Solidarity Means Doom
Submitted on March 31, 2012By Kim Petersen - Dissident Voice
The twenty-first century calamity that happened in Sri Lanka augurs unpropitiously for the Palestinians in Palestine. In 2009, the Sinhalese majority — backed indirectly by many nations of the world including Canada, the United States, China, India, Iran, Arab states, Israel...Cuba, Venezuela, Bolivia, and Nicaragua — militarily defeated the Tamils...The oppression and genocide experienced by the Tamils is not as well-known as the occupation, oppression, and genocide experienced by the Palestinians even though it is of much longer duration.
At Least 13 Dead in Another Honduran Prison Massacre
Submitted on March 31, 2012By Bill Van Auken - 31 March 2012
At least 13 prisoners died Thursday in a prison riot and fire in Honduras that has once again exposed not only the desperate conditions in the country’s prison system, but also the overall assault on basic rights of the population by the country’s US-backed government.
Budget 2012: The Battle Lines Have Been Drawn for Canada's Indigenous Peoples
Submitted on March 31, 2012By Pamela Palmater - March 30, 2012
While [Assembly of First Nations' National Chief Shawn] Atleo cannot be blamed for the aggressive assimilation plan of the [Conservatives]...he is to blame if he does not stand up and actively resist it...Our people are the ones who live in shacks -- now is not the time to tell them their voices are "being heard". Our people are dying pre-mature deaths -- now is not the time to promote "reconciliation." Our people see the impending battle -- now is not the time to "seek clarity." Our people need a leader -- now is not the time to be a politician.
Papering Over Disaster
Submitted on March 31, 2012Fall 2007 began the onset of America's greatest Depression. Europe's in deep trouble. Reckoning day's delayed by bailing out insolvent banks and throwing money at markets like confetti.
Making the Case for Higher Taxes
Submitted on March 31, 2012Group calls for tax rates on the rich to be returned to pre-2000 levels
A forum this Sunday put on by a new local group, Nova Scotians for Tax Fairness, is premised on one simple idea: the rich should pay more in taxes.
Police Brutality in Toronto: 4 Occupiers Arrested, 2 Beaten
Submitted on March 31, 2012By Darryl Richardson - Toronto Media Co-op
Behind Osgoode Hall at around 2:00 pm today Angela sent out a text that police were at Osgoode Hall with an eviction notice. The occupiers complied with the eviction notice and began packing up the camp. Johh Erb then engaged in a boisterous and emotional speech with regards to our rights. He was demanding to know the arresting officers' superior, and their division. The police demanded that he leave, when he refused they placed him in cuffs.
Mostly Water Videos Unavailable at the Moment
Submitted on March 31, 2012All the youtube videos which have been posted to this site are currently unavailable.
Terrorizing Palestinians Daily
Submitted on March 30, 2012Life in Occupied Palestine is harsh, brutal, and repressive. It includes collective punishment, closed borders, economic strangulation, land theft, dispossessions, neighborhood incursions, ground and air attacks, arrests, torture, incarceration, and constant fear.
Trayvon Martin's Death, LeBron James and the Miami Heat
Submitted on March 30, 2012By Dave Zirin - Znet Commentary
The senseless killing of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin by a self-appointed “neighborhood watch captain” has provoked anguish, rage and now, at long last, resistance...Even more remarkably, this resistance has found expression in the world of sports. An impressive group of NBA players from Carmelo Anthony to Steve Nash to the leaders of the NBA Players Association have spoken out and called for justice.
Challenging Israeli State Terror
Submitted on March 30, 2012Among other methods, lawlessly imprisoned Palestinians do it by hunger striking. Khader Adnan got world attention. He endured 66 days before Israel agreed to release him on April 17. On March 30, Hana Shalabi's 43rd hunger strike day began. She also got widespread attention. Courageous struggles for justice draw support. At times, good news follows.
Israel Shields Public from Risks of War with Iran
Submitted on March 30, 2012By Gareth Porter - March 30th, 2012
The government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been telling Israelis that Israel can attack Iran with minimal civilian Israeli casualties as a result of retaliation...But the message that Iran is too weak to threaten an effective counter-attack is contradicted by one of Israel’s leading experts on Iranian missiles and the head of its missile defence programme for nearly a decade, who says Iranian missiles are capable of doing significant damage to Israeli targets.
Osgoode Police Brutality Podcast
Submitted on March 30, 2012TMC and MediaWrench talk to witnesses of Osgoode arrests
Jared Khan of MediaWrench and TMC's own Darryl Richardson talk to witnesses of the police brutality that occured at Osgoode Hall today.
Air Canada Wildcat Strike Outrages and Unnerves Ruling Elite
Submitted on March 30, 2012By Carl Bronski - 30 March 2012
Last Friday hundreds of Air Canada flights were delayed and 210 more canceled outright after 150 baggage handlers, ramp workers and maintenance personnel at Toronto’s Pearson International Airport staged wildcat strike action. Members of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAMAW), the Toronto workers were quickly joined by ground crews in Montreal, Quebec City and Vancouver causing widespread chaos across the entire Air Canada network.
General Strike Brings Spain to Standstill (Two Articles)
Submitted on March 30, 2012Millions of Spaniards are walking off their jobs today in a massive general strike and a series of protest marches against the proposed austerity budget and labor reforms of Prime Minister Rajoy’s 4-month old conservative government. As the Spanish debt crisis deepens — at 23 percent, unemployment is the highest in the Western world — financial markets and [European Union] leaders are demanding even more far-reaching reforms and austerity measures than in Greece.
Police Brutality at Osgoode Hall
Submitted on March 30, 20124 occupiers arrested, 2 beaten, 3 arrests for simply recording
This story is being live updated as we get more information.
Files attached to this post:
Snapshot of Systemic Police Abuse
Submitted on March 30, 2012By LINN WASHINGTON, JR. - Counterpunch Weekend Edition
...[The] dynamics embedded in the recent arrest of [photojournalism student Ian] Van Kuyk by Philadelphia police...provide yet another snapshot of the systemic abuses I’ve reported and researched during three decades spent examining and documenting the lawlessness of supposed law enforcers...[P]olice attacking civilians for lawfully photographing public spaces, police routinely employing unlawful excessive force and prosecutors too frequently turning a blind eye to such police misconduct are all nationwide problems.
DTES Interim Rezoning Guidelines a Mixed Blessing for Low Income Community
Submitted on March 30, 2012Vancouver, Coast Salish Territories – March 30, 2012 – The Low Income community won at least a partial victory on Wednesday when the city passed a set of Interim Rezoning Guidelines for the Downtown Eastside.
Ontario pays mining corp to avoid conflict with to KI First Nation
Submitted on March 30, 2012God's Lake Resources make milions without digging for gold
In the face of a looming conflict, the Ontario government has paid out $3.5 million to junior gold mining company God's Lake Resources (GLR) to surrender their mining claims in land that was placed under a moratorium against mining by Kitchenuhmaykoosib Inninuwug (KI) First Nation, according to a March 29th announcement from the provincial government.
Pope Benedict Backs Capitalism in Cuba
Submitted on March 30, 2012By Rafael Azul - WSWS
On a three-day visit to Cuba this week, Pope Benedict XVI gave the Vatican’s seal of approval to the government’s policies of opening the Cuban economy to private property relations and exploitation by global transnational corporations...“The Cuban church will not fight for the poor. It prefers to observe official protocol. Beggars bother it, as do the quantity of the mentally ill that show up at church asking for help.”
RCMP Drug Squad Cop Charged After Firing Shots Into Wall at Home
Submitted on March 30, 2012March 29, 2012 - CBC News
An RCMP officer in Langley, B.C., has been charged after he allegedly fired his police-issued gun inside his home Wednesday night...Michael Roe has also been suspended from duty with the federal drug enforcement branch, but no decision has been made on whether his pay will also be stopped.
Conservatives' Small-Minded Budget Kills Jobs and Fails Canadians
Submitted on March 30, 2012By Toby Sanger - rabble.ca
...Harper's 2012 budget demonstrates just how small-minded their vision is. Canada faces major challenges, with 1.4 million unemployed, stagnant productivity growth, a crisis in retirement security and growing inequality...Instead of addressing these challenges, what this budget provides is more of their failed economic policies, deep job-killing budget cuts, cuts to public pensions and a highlight: getting rid of the penny.
Vive les masques !
Submitted on March 30, 2012Profiling the Profilers! Profilons les Profileurs!
Submitted on March 30, 2012see http://www.peoplescommission.org/en/index.php for info on CSIS Watch and more.
voir http://www.peoplescommission.org/fr/index.php pour de l'info sur Surveillance du SCRS et plus.
Canucks Riot 2012?
Submitted on March 29, 2012City to 'Decentralize' Canucks' Celebrations
The City of Vancouver has announced its game plan for the 2012 NHL Stanley Cup playoffs, set to begin April 11. The plan was devised to stop any rioting as occurred during the 2011 Stanley Cup game 7, during which millions of dollars in property damages and looting was carried out by several thousand people in the downtown core.
Budget 2012 Reaction Round-Up
Submitted on March 29, 2012Have other reactions to the 2012 federal budget to add to this list? Post them in the comments below.
When Pomp Meets Circumstance
Submitted on March 29, 2012HALIFAX - Worlds seemed to collide today outside the Nova Scotia Legislature as the Nova Scotia Government and General Employees Union (NSGEU) local 22, the IWK Health Care Workers, staged a protest over recent cuts to youth-care workers, at the same time as the Lieutenant-Governor was set to deliver a speech from the throne.
Federal Budget Abdicates Responsibility, Leaves Thousands Waiting For Health Care
Submitted on March 29, 2012Halifax, NS – Today’s federal budget abdicates federal responsibility for public health care and leaves thousands of Canadians waiting to access need health services such as long-term care and mental health care services, says the Nova Scotia Citizens’ Health Care Network.
Legislating Greater Wall Street Theft
Submitted on March 29, 2012Congress lets Wall Street steal more than ever.
The Toulouse Killings: Not In Palestine's Name
Submitted on March 29, 2012By Yasmeen El Khoudary - March 28, 2012
When Mohammed Merah...was captured by police after killing three Jewish children at the Ozar Hatorah day school in southern France, he reportedly justified his actions by saying he wanted to avenge the deaths of Palestinian children. So it was only natural that reverberations from this crime would extend all the way to Palestine, mere weeks after Palestinian children in Gaza were injured and killed by Israeli bombs...But Palestinians do not praise Merah's actions. We reject it.
Fragging in Afghanistan?
Submitted on March 29, 2012America may again wage war on itself. Given the similarities between Southeast Asia and Afghanistan, it may indeed be just a matter of time.
U.S. and Australia Prepare Military Build Up in Indian Ocean
Submitted on March 29, 2012By Patrick O’Connor - WSWS
...[T]he Obama administration and the Australian Labor government have advanced plans for a substantial military build up in the Indian Ocean. An increased US naval presence, including aircraft carriers and attack submarines, is being prepared for Western Australia’s Stirling naval base, and American manned surveillance aircraft and remote-operated drones will be stationed in the Cocos Islands...These moves follow the announcement last November...that 2,500 Marines will be stationed in northern Australia on a rotating basis.
From NYPD Spying to Trayvon Martin
Submitted on March 29, 2012By Jordan Flaherty - March 29, 2012
Recent revelations about [New York Police Department] abuses go beyond spying. The notorious stop-and-frisk program, which has led to the criminalization of virtually an entire generation of young men of color in the city, is one example...Other recent revelations about NYPD abuses have included arrest quotas, sexual assaults, and the harassment and arrest of an officer who had turned whistle-blower. So my little brush with violation of privacy was just a small taste of what is possible from a police department that never met a boundary it didn’t want to cross.
COMMUNIQUÉ - Des canadiens préoccupés perturbent le discours sur le budget
Submitted on March 29, 2012Tony Tracy is the Media Co-op: Join him today and Own your Media!
Submitted on March 29, 2012As a co-op, our strength is our members. Over the next few weeks, we'll be sending our profiles of some of the people who support the co-op, from readers, to contributors to editors. Know someone involved with the co-op who we should profile? Send it to: info@mediacoop.ca.
Ontario Coalition Against Poverty Statement on 2012 Ontario Budget
Submitted on March 29, 2012March 3, 2012 - Ontario Coalition Against Poverty
The 2012 Ontario Budget, delivered by the Liberal Government, but designed by Bay Street, goes under the title 'Strong Action for Ontario'. In reality, however, it is a blueprint for action to impose the burden of the crisis on everyone but the rich. Public Services will be under attack as the Government works to reduce spending by some $17.7 billion over the next three years. The workers who deliver those services will face a wage freeze and an unprecedented attack on their pensions.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - Concerned Canadians Disrupt Budget Speech
Submitted on March 29, 2012Watching the Watchers
Submitted on March 29, 2012Protest at CSIS offices in Montreal aims to turn tables on spy agency
This morning, about 40 people gathered outside of 715 Peel Street in downtown Montreal. Carrying cameras and many wearing sunglasses and long dark coats, they camped out, waiting for suspects to interrogate.
The Criminal Class in Washington is Bipartisan
Submitted on March 28, 2012Corruption and criminality run deep in Washington.
Red Wave Hits Montreal
Submitted on March 28, 2012250,000 march against tuition fees in Quebec
On March 22nd, over 250,000 people marches in the streets of Montreal, making it possibly the largest demonstration in the province's history (similar numbers marched in February 2003 against the looming war in Iraq).
The North American Leaders Summit and Reviving Trilateral Integration
Submitted on March 28, 2012By Dana Gabriel
When it comes to continental integration, the U.S. has shifted much of its focus to pursuing dual-bilateral agendas with both Canada and Mexico. This includes efforts to establish a North American security perimeter. At some point, these parallel initiatives could converge into one. While it is unlikely that the upcoming leaders summit will bring about any grand new plan, it could be used as a starting point to revive the whole trilateral process. With the NAFTA framework still intact, the vision for a North American Union has not been abandoned.
Washington's "Human Rights" Fraud
Submitted on March 28, 2012By Bill Van Auken - 27 March 2012
The US government’s posturing as the champion of universal human rights is a patent fraud. Its claims of outrage over violations of freedom and democracy in one or another country are steeped in hypocrisy.
Bombing for Ethnic Cleansing and Hegemony Rights
Submitted on March 28, 2012By Edward S. Herman - Dissident Voice
If you have overwhelming power, you think you can get away with anything, and that you can push up against the edge in threatening war, waiting for the target to recognize prospective defeat and surrender in advance. If they don’t surrender, you can hope to win more or less easily with your superior power, and preserve your (or your client’s) ability to ethnically cleanse and/or maintain your prime bullying power in a region, and your credibility.
Security for the One-Percent
Submitted on March 28, 2012By WILLEM de LINT - Counterpunch
Over the past several years, but now with more intensity, domestic security measures are being mooted, planned, and carried out with a purposefulness that appears to take as a given that what is good for the 1% is good for the rest of us. Moreover, they appear to be developed with the eager cooperation of domestic policing and security actors and agents.
Terrorizing Palestinian Youths
Submitted on March 28, 2012Based on spurious charges or others too minor to matter, Israel arrests, tortures, traumatizes, convicts, and detains hundreds of Palestinian youths lawlessly. Many suffer lasting effects.
Cranking Up the Heat: On the Chances for a Decent Future
Submitted on March 28, 2012By Paul Street - Znet
The elite business class is hard-wired to make a charade of democracy, to destroy a livable earth, and ultimately to exterminate the human species – along with many thousands of other species it should be added. The ground cannot be prepared too soon for the development of a massive democratic-revolutionary movement against the eco-cidal profits system.
British Columbia Government Criminalizes Teachers' Strike to Force Wage Cut
Submitted on March 28, 2012By Vic Neufeld - WSWS
Events in British Columbia over the past month have exposed not only the provincial Liberal government’s vicious assault on worker rights, but also the role of the unions and New Democratic Party (NDP) in demobilizing teacher and student resistance to the attack on living standards and quality education.
Join our team: We're looking for a Membership Intern!
Submitted on March 28, 2012Interested in working with the Media Co-op in Montreal this spring?
Please pass this on far & wide!
Afghan Democracy and Women's Rights Activist Malalai Joya: Foreign Troops Must Leave [Interview]
Submitted on March 28, 2012Sunday, March 25, 2012 - Green Left Weekly
"...[T]he foreign troops should leave Afghanistan immediately. The US occupiers have made life hell by massacring innocent civilians and supporting this brutal regime of warlords and fundamentalists...Democracy and justice can’t be imposed by a foreign power — especially by the US with its history of overthrowing democratic regimes and imposing dictators and murderers on countless nations since World War II."
Completing the Job Mike Harris Started: Ontario's 2012 Budget
Submitted on March 28, 2012By Hugh Mackenzie - March 28, 2012
The crowning irony of Premier Dalton McGuinty's ninth budget is that it completes the job of cutting government down to size started by the Mike Harris Conservatives in the 1990s...You won't find the direct attacks on public services and the people who deliver them that featured so prominently in the Harris budgets, but the result is the same...With this budget, the McGuinty government confronts the poor with rate freezes rather than ask more from the rich and powerful.
Stand Your Ground Laws Legalize Murder
Submitted on March 27, 2012Trayvon won't be the last Black youth vigilante justice victim. Blame goes well beyond killer cops. America's violent culture shares it.
Obama Uses Nuclear Summit to Issue New Threats Against North Korea and Iran
Submitted on March 27, 2012By Peter Symonds - 27 March 2012
US President Obama has used his trip to this week’s nuclear security summit in South Korea to repeat his belligerent threats against Iran and North Korea...While the summit is supposedly about nuclear disarmament and peace, Obama is utilizing it as a platform to prepare new wars of aggression in the Middle East and Asia...Everything the US is doing in the Middle East and Asia...is in violation of international law.
How Religion's Demand for Obedience Keeps Us in the Dark Ages
Submitted on March 27, 2012By Adam Lee - AlterNet
...[L]ike political conservatism in general, many religious rules are actively destructive to human liberty and happiness...If moral commands could only be backed up by appeals to reason or human good, these unfounded and harmful laws would vanish overnight. Instead, the people who make these rules...claim that they're messengers of the will of God, and thus no further justification is needed. It bears emphasizing that this is the exact same argument made by ancient monarchs and tyrants, all of whom used this idea to justify atrocious cruelty.
Joe Oliver and Curing Conservative Dysfunction
Submitted on March 27, 2012By Pamela Palmater - March 26, 2012
Conservative Minister of Natural Resources Joe Oliver announced this week that amendments to Canada's regulatory process are needed to speed up the approvals of mining and other extractive industry projects. Part of his justification for speeding up approvals is to transform "aboriginal communities' which he considers to be "socially dysfunctional"...[T]he language is...consistent with the Conservative's assimilation plan.
NSGEU Local 22 and Allies in Early Morning Info Picket
Submitted on March 27, 2012Cuts to Youth Worker Positions Despite No Provincial Mental Health Strategy
Halifax - Members of Nova Scotia Government and General Employees Union (NSGEU) Local 22, the IWK Health Care Workers, today continued their protest against the recent slashing of 22 youth-care worker jobs with an early-morning info picket at the Dartmouth Sportsplex.
The Second Killing of Trayvon Martin
Submitted on March 27, 2012By JOHN ESKOW - Counterpunch
The cowardly police in Sanford, Florida, who sanctioned the murder of an unarmed black teenager by a racist vigilante named George Zimmerman, have now assassinated Trayvon Martin a second time, by leaking scurrilous and irrelevant “news” about him. This age-old dirty-trick of cops...has been, so far, fairly successful in muddying the narrative on the public airwaves. So let’s take a moment to sift through the cops’ slurs and innuendos and see where...they take us.
"I'll Never Call the Cops Again"
Submitted on March 27, 2012March 26, 2012 - CBC News
"I'll never call the cops again, for anything."
- Heather Hannon, widow of Alvin Wright, who was shot and killed by Langley RCMP after responding to a domestic dispute.
Afghanistan Crimes: Absolving Higher-Ups
Submitted on March 27, 2012Convicted Nazi war criminals were hanged. American ones keep killing with impunity.
NDP Picks Ex-Liberal Minister as Federal Party Leader
Submitted on March 27, 2012By Keith Jones - WSWS
Although the [New Democratic Party] long ago shredded its reformist program, embracing “fiscal responsibility” and corporate tax cuts and supporting Canada’s participation in US-led imperialist wars, Mulcair spent much of the campaign, arguing that the NDP needs to move toward the “center” and disparaging NDP policies and rhetoric as half-century-old “boilerplate”...[T]here is no question that the election of Mulcair represents a further shift to the right. It is a public avowal that the NDP is a big business party, akin to the Democrats in the US or Britain’s new Labour Party.
"Hard-Line Anti-Canadian Extremists:" No One Is Illegal Responds to Conservative Attacks in Parliament
Submitted on March 27, 2012By No One Is Illegal - March 27, 2012
Immigrant and refugee rights groups from Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver were brought up in Parliament yesterday and targeted in a press release by Minister of Deportation Jason Kenney. The Tories have charged that No One Is Illegal is "not simply another noisy activist group but hard-line anti-Canadian extremists"..."It seems as if everyone who is a dissident and stands up for equality and social and environmental justice is an extremist in Harper's corporate Canada..."
"Stand With Us to Fight"
Submitted on March 26, 2012Hundreds Rally Against Enbridge Oil
Submitted on March 26, 2012April's Pitches for Pay!
Submitted on March 26, 2012You write the stories, we pay you money!
As we do every month, in April we will pay two contributors for news features to be published in The Dominion. We prioritize solutions-oriented news pieces with a Canadian angle, including photo essays and video pitches.
Pitches are welcome from anyone; priority for payment goes to those who have previously contributed.
Investigative Fund Pitches Due by April 6 at midnight!
Submitted on March 26, 2012400$ for 2200 words even Holmes would go for that!
Put on your deerstalker hat, rouse Watson from his slumber, and call up Moriarty's number on the speed dial for an interview because it is time to pitch your story to the Media Co-op's Investigative Fund!
The Media Co-op is seeking pitches for investigative features.
Writers will be paid $400 for 2200 words.
No Pipelines, No Tankers: A Rally in Images
Submitted on March 26, 2012Challenging Obamacare
Submitted on March 26, 2012In 2010, Ralph Nader called Obamacare a sellout to Big PhARMA and other health-care giants, saying: It doesn't "provide universal, comprehensive or affordable care to the American people. It shovels hundreds of billions of dollars of taxpayer money (to predators that) created the problem."
Hire-and-Fire Labor Reform in Italy
Submitted on March 26, 2012By Mike Jobson - WSWS
Article 18 is an important conquest of the working class in the post-war period, providing job security for workers in firms with over 15 employees. It requires such firms to rehire, and not simply compensate, workers found to have been dismissed “without just cause”...If the bill is signed by the parliament, companies will not be obliged to reinstate workers...This will allow companies to lay off workers, without proving there are compelling “economic” reasons for doing so, in exchange for what would effectively be a minimal severance package.
Is U.S. Sanctimony on the Wane?
Submitted on March 26, 2012By Sean Fenley - Dissident Voice
For certain segments of the global population, the United States has...virtually always represented little to nothing good. No doubt, however, many have given credence to the idea of liberal and democratic notions that the United States is ostensibly about. Recent events...would seem to belie the notion that the United States is about high-minded and lofty ideals, but it is rather the entity with the biggest stick who will carry out its bidding...with concern for respect, scruples, and moral human dignity receiving extremely little care.
PETA's Campaign Glamorizes Violence Against Women, Say Local Activists
Submitted on March 25, 2012TRIGGER WARNING: link to PETA's "boyfriend went vegan" video http://www.peta.org/tv/videos/psas-vegetarianism/1190924841001.aspx
A woman is walking through an alley looking dazed and dishevelled. She is wearing nothing but a jacket and a neck brace, suggesting a serious and recent injury. The shaky camera shows glimpses of her panties as she falls up the stairs barely able to stand.
Deena Gamil speaks at Trent IAW
Submitted on March 25, 2012How the Walk to Stop the Mega-Quarry put Melancthon on the Map
Submitted on March 25, 2012
“The Mega-Quarry has really touched a nerve up here because people know their headwaters are being challenged” argues Michael Sacco, an Indigenous Studies PhD student at Trent University.
Sacco was one of the organizers of a five-day 125km walk in late April 2011 to stop the proposed “Mega-quarry” planned for Melancthon Township.
No Letup in Western-Backed Syrian Violence
Submitted on March 25, 2012Washington's dirty hands control anti-Assad violence. At issue is longstanding policy to install a pro-Western regime. All means are used to do it, including war if others fail.
People of Color Tell Their "I Could Be Trayvon" Stories
Submitted on March 25, 2012By Jorge Rivas - Colorlines
“As boys and men of color, we are providing a platform to share with each other, and with the world, our ‘Trayvon Stories’ — the times we were similarly racially profiled by police or vigilantes, and could have ended up dead after doing nothing more than the everyday activity typical of human beings living in a supposedly free society...”
Not a Good Year for Neo-Nazis in Canada
Submitted on March 25, 2012March 24, 2012 - Vancouver Media Co-op
Blood and Honour was established in 1987 by Ian Stuart Donaldson, lead singer of the neo-Nazi band Skrewdriver...B & H takes its name from a slogan used by the Hitler Youth. The organization has served as a propaganda and recruitment arm for fascist skinhead groups in Europe and North America, primarily. Members have been charged with a variety of crimes over the years, from assault to murder.
The Shifting Strategies of Empire
Submitted on March 25, 2012By David Swanson - Znet Commentary
President Obama this week declared the war on Iraq to be an honorable success that has given us a brighter future. Are you fired up? Ready to go?...Eric Holder this month explained that it's legal for a president to kill anyone anywhere, or to imprison them, or to spy on them. I started to get upset about this, but then I remembered that Holder is a Democrat. That made me feel much better.
Victoria Activists bring Opposition to Enbridge Pipelines Home
Submitted on March 25, 2012On March 23rd 2012 community organizers installed a symbolic pipeline in downtown Victoria BC. This action was in solidarity with all the other folk who also oppose the planned Enbridge Northern Gateway Pipeline. It was an act that demonstrated resistance to the destruction of our forests, coasts, rivers, lakes, and communities.
Not a good year for neo-Nazi 'Blood and Honour' Canada
Submitted on March 24, 2012Members charged with hate crimes, rallies smashed, one killed
2012 is turning into very bad year for the neo-Nazi group Blood and Honour in Canada. On March 24, two 'white pride' rallies organized by B & H chapters in Edmonton, Alberta, and London, Ont., fizzled after overwhelming numbers of anti-fascists drove them from the streets and effectively shut them down.
Palestinians Denied Essentials to Life
Submitted on March 24, 2012Besides persecution, repression, and injustice, deprivation defines life in Occupied Palestine. Essentials fall way below minimum standards.
Racist Violence is Used to Maintain an Unjust Social Order
Submitted on March 24, 2012By ROB URIE - Counterpunch Weekend Edition
The...murder [of Trayvon Martin] was a particular crime and a particular tragedy but it took place in the context of the persistent race-based murder and the massive unjust incarceration of black and brown youth and men. The particulars of Trayvon’s case are now likely to be addressed given the public uproar over the murder. But the fact that terror against, and oppression of, America’s black and Latino communities serves an economic and political purpose that benefits its purveyors needs to be addressed and redressed, by force if necessary, before it will end.
New Evidence Emerges on Brazilian Student's Death in Australia
Submitted on March 24, 2012By Mike Head - 24 March 2012
Eye witnesses and family members have cast fresh doubts on the official accounts of the death of 21-year-old Brazilian student Roberto Laudisio Curti. The young man stopped breathing after being sprayed with capsicum gas and Tasered at least three times by Sydney police in the early hours of last Sunday morning...Laudisio Curti's uncle...described as inconceivable the police claims that his nephew was a thief or that his death could have been caused by a pre-existing health defect.
Seeing the Strings: Iglika Ivanova and Matthew Wildcat
Submitted on March 24, 2012Capitalism and You teach-in
Seeing the Strings started with a discussion addressing:
What are the basics of capitalism? How is it connected to different forms of exploitation? How does capitalism shape you?
Speakers were Iglika Ivanova and Matthew Wildcat.
Worrisome Security Council Presidential Statement on Syria
Submitted on March 24, 2012After months of internal wrangling, Security Council members unanimously endorsed efforts to end Syrian violence. Or did they?
The Logic of Lesser Evil Thinking: The Strange Case of the Liberal Ostrich
Submitted on March 24, 2012By ALAN NASSER - March 22, 2012
In confining the political to the Republocrat consensus, the liberal exhibits a common political vice that needs to be called for what it is: a deficiency of historical imagination. The logic that says one should vote only for someone who can win is self-perpetuating. If it’s good advice now it will necessarily be good advice next time around...The bare possibility that the Democrat-Republican, liberal-conservative dichotomies may be historically obsolete in these neo-liberal times is ruled out a-priori. The present moment is frozen in time...We turn out to inhabit what is in effect the only possible world, which must be...also the best possible world.
"A Crime Against Nature"
Submitted on March 24, 2012Protestors mourn the destruction of Gatineau’s old growth
By mid-day on Mar. 1, the protest known as the Occupy Gatineau Park movement was effectively quashed by authorities.
UK Budget: A Bonanza for the Rich, Pain for Workers and the Poor
Submitted on March 23, 2012By Julie Hyland - WSWS
The Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition’s budget is unambiguously aimed at enriching the top 1 percent at the expense of everyone else...Tax cuts for the super-rich are to be paid for by the working class, especially the most vulnerable — pensioners and those on welfare...The government’s measures are provocative. But it can proceed because it knows it will face no serious opposition from Labour or the trade unions.
Freedom or Death
Submitted on March 23, 2012On March 22, Hana Shalabi's 36th hunger strike day began. After examining her, Physicians for Human Rights-Israel said she's in imminent danger of death. Her struggle is ours. We're all Hana Shalabi!
Portugal Paralyzed by General Strike
Submitted on March 23, 2012By Paul Mitchell - 23 March 2012
Portugal was paralyzed by a general strike yesterday, as workers demonstrated against austerity measures and labour reforms...The Lisbon metro...stayed closed. Train, bus and ferry companies in the capital and the second-largest city, Porto, ran few services. Many schools, hospitals, courts, government offices, post offices, libraries, museums, refuse collection services and ports were also affected.
More advice the NDP is ignoring
Submitted on March 23, 2012Investment, not cutbacks, is what youth and students need
Cutting funding to the services that matter most for youth disenfranchises young people in the province, and presents a threat to our economy and the lives of our citizens.
Gaza Siege Harshness Continues
Submitted on March 23, 2012Israel is committing slow-motion genocide in Gaza.
Jackie Robinson, Trayvon Martin and the Sad History of Sanford, Florida
Submitted on March 23, 2012By Dave Zirin - March 23, 2012
Sanford, Florida is a city that will now be known for all times as the place where Trayvon Martin was killed for the crime of Living While Black...But Sanford, Florida, does have its own history and it includes a collective moment of intolerance and bigotry that almost derailed the man Martin Luther King Jr. called “a freedom rider before freedom rides,” Jackie Robinson.
Progressive Budget Real Alternative: CCPA
Submitted on March 23, 2012If you want to govern, not give up
Fed a steady diet of tax-cut fetishism and deficit hysteria, Nova Scotians could welcome the N.S. Alternative Budget (NSAB) released March 22 by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives-N.S (CCPA-NS).
Repress U, Class of 2012
Submitted on March 23, 2012By Michael Gould-Wartofsky - March 23, 2012
Campus spies. Pepper spray. SWAT teams. Twitter trackers. Biometrics. Student security consultants. Professors of homeland security studies. Welcome to Repress U, class of 2012...Since 9/11, the homeland security state has come to campus just as it has come to America’s towns and cities, its places of work and its houses of worship, its public space and its cyberspace.
Perils of Attacking Iran
Submitted on March 23, 2012In mid-April, Istanbul or Geneva will host nuclear talks with Iran. America, Britain, France, Russia, China and Germany will attend. Russian Foreign Secretary Sergei Lavrov calls them a "last chance" to avoid war.
Businesses Start with the CEED of an Idea
Submitted on March 23, 2012The Centre for Entrepreneurship Education and Development provides unemployed Nova Scotians with an alternative to the labour market
Moira Peters and Sam Fraser were unemployed and struggling in the Halifax labour market when they discovered the Centre for Entrepreneurship Education and Development (CEED).
This Halifax-based, not-for-profit organization helps people start their own businesses by offering advice and financial support.
Up, Up and Away: How Money Power Works Down Under
Submitted on March 23, 2012By John Pilger - March 23, 2012
As in Britain and America, [Australian] unions have long been tamed, co-opted and policed by their own leaderships. [Australian Labour Prime Minister Julia] Gillard’s workplace relations minister is Bill Shorten, a former union boss whose political ambitions and boasts of close ties to business elites are highlighted in US diplomatic cables released by WikiLeaks.
NDP Frays Over Mulcair's Candidacy for Party Leader
Submitted on March 23, 2012By Carl Bronski - WSWS
The elementary truth is that the [New Democratic Party]...has never been a socialist party. From its very beginnings, it was a vehicle of the trade union bureaucracy and sections of small business and the middle class for pressuring big business and in particular the Liberal Party for reforms and for controlling the working class. It employed vague socialist rhetoric to tie the working class to a nationalist reformist program predicated on subservience to capitalist rule...
Police Violence on the Rise in Montreal
Submitted on March 23, 2012By Stefan Christoff - March 23, 2012
In recent months, popular anger toward the Service de police de la Ville de Montréal (SPVM) has been building. From riot police violence against the growing Québec-wide student strike, to continued police killings in the city, police are facing a growing crisis in public confidence...Montreal police chief Marc Parent is presenting an untruthful narrative of events to the public and media, a line that attempts to justify police violence...and works to justify increasingly militarized police tactics in the city.
«Mais à quoi servent les prisons ?»
Submitted on March 22, 2012Entrevue avec Jean Claude Bernheim
Jean Claude Bernheim est criminologue, il enseigne à l'université de St Boniface. Auteur de nombreux ouvrages en criminologie, dont le classique Criminologie, idées et théories, il a enseigné à l’Université d’Ottawa et à l’Université de Montréal.
«Mais à quoi servent les prisons ?»: quelques pistes...
New York Times Promotes War on Syria and Iran
Submitted on March 22, 2012Instead of accuracy, full disclosure, and supporting right over wrong, The New York Times consistently cheer-leads US wars and prospective ones.
The Myth of Freedom in the Land of the Free
Submitted on March 22, 2012By John Stoehr - 22 March 2012
...[I]t's tempting to say two currents conspired to increasingly limit the freedom of individuals in the land of the free. One is the funneling of wealth upward so that the top 10 per cent owns and controls half the wealth. The other is the organizing of state violence to protect the oligarchy in case anyone gets wise to what's happening. Perhaps there's a third: the executing of state violence in the name of security.
More Austerity Measures in Spain as Public Debt Soars
Submitted on March 22, 2012By Alejandro López - 22 March 2012
Under conditions where Spain’s economy is plunging into the same vicious spiral that Greece has experienced, and where spending cuts and tax rises reduce revenues and lead to calls for further spending cuts and tax rises, the living standards of Spanish workers are being dramatically worsened. With the complicity of the [Spanish social democrats] and the wretched response of the unions, the [right-wing Popular Party] is using the economic crisis to drive workers back to the days of the 19th century.
CKUT radio: Mass Montréal protest for accessible education
Submitted on March 22, 2012audio report recorded on the streets of downtown Montreal 22/03
Listen to a radio report on the massive student protest today in downtown Montreal, a demonstration that completely filled large parts of the downtown area.
Chilliwack Students Walk Out in Support of Striking Teachers
Submitted on March 22, 2012By Katie Bartel - March 02, 2012
Approximately 100 students walked out of Sardis secondary at noon Friday in support of their teachers...They weren't dissuaded by an announcement at lunch by school administration advising them not to leave school grounds, or by the possibility of "strict disciplinary action," or by a letter to parents on the school district website encouraging their children not to walk out.
Obama Endorses KXL Pipeline, Native Americans Forced to Protest from Cage
Submitted on March 22, 2012Thursday, March 22, 2012 - Common Dreams
“Natives in Canada live downstream from toxic tar sands mines...and they are experiencing spikes in colon, liver, blood and rare bile-duct cancers which the Canadian government and oil companies simply ignore. And now they want to pipe these tar sands through the heart of Indian country, bulldozing grave sites and ripping out our heritage.”
Preparing Israel for War
Submitted on March 22, 2012By Neve Gordon - March 22, 2012
The recent attack is...not only about allocating more money to the military; it is also about Iran. The media continuously drew a connection between the Islamic jihad, which launched most of the rockets against Israel, and Iran. The [Israeli 'Defence' Force] spokesperson pointed an accusing finger towards Teheran, claiming that it is transferring weapons and money to the Islamic Jihad...Hence, another objective was to show the Israeli public that Iran, by means of a proxy, had already begun attacking Israel.
Taking Liberties: Canada's BRAT Strategy of All Torture, All the Time
Submitted on March 22, 2012By Matthew Behrens - March 22, 2012
Building Resilience Against Terrorism...is a hodgepodge of Management 101 Power Point nonsense that simply regurgitates the same unsubstantiated nostrums that CSIS, the RCMP, and other fear-mongers have been parroting for years. Timed to coincide with the budget battle expected to hit Ottawa shortly...the BRAT reads like the desperate plea of secretive organizations trotting out the rationale for continued high funding.
Live: Quebec national day of action against tuition fee hikes
Submitted on March 22, 2012CUTV broadcasts from the streets of Montreal at 300,000 go on strike
CUTV, Concordia University students' campus-community TV station, is broadcasting live from today's massive action against tuition fee increases. Watch it live below, or tune in to cutvmontreal.ca.
CSIS: A Memo from Dick to Vic
Submitted on March 22, 2012I requested information on Lawful Access back in November from CSIS from the period of September 2011 until November 30, 2011. Once again, the use of Cabinet Confidences to amend the request to near uselessness didn't help much, nor did the waiting period.
Manifestation féministes étudiantes de l’AGEcvm
Submitted on March 22, 2012Les féminismes manifestés, pas récupérés!
« Les féminismes manifestés, pas récupérés! »
Dying for Justice
Submitted on March 21, 2012In Israeli military courts, injustice is policy, even on matters of life and death. That's how police states operate!
Syrian Opposition Accused of Human Rights Abuses
Submitted on March 21, 2012By Chris Marsden - 22 March 2012
A report by Human Rights Watch on abuses committed by the Syrian opposition cites eye-witness accounts of kidnappings, torture, forced confessions and summary executions of security personnel and civilians...There are...numerous media reports highlighting the sectarian character of the conflict, with Sunni forces targeting Alawites, Christians and other minorities, and of government loyalists reciprocating in kind.
America and Israel: Modern Day Spartas
Submitted on March 21, 2012America and Israel live by the sword. One day they'll perish by it.
U.S. War Game Foreshadows Israeli Attack on Iran
Submitted on March 21, 2012By Peter Symonds - WSWS
Details of a recent Pentagon war game...underscore the advanced character and recklessness of the Obama administration’s preparations for war against Iran. Nominally premised on an attack by Israel on Iran, the conclusion from the exercise was that “the strike would lead to a wider regional war which could draw in the United States and leave hundreds of Americans dead.”
Amnesty International, George Clooney and the Bidding of Empire
Submitted on March 21, 2012By JOHN VINCENT - Counterpunch
Why does [Amnesty International USA] mount campaigns focused on Africa...but not promote similar campaigns within the borders of the US calling for the arrest of its known war criminals?...And why doesn’t AIUSA mount campaigns to stop US humanitarian crimes before they occur?...Are AIUSA’s commendable humanitarian efforts being used as a screen for the organization’s work in the service of the American empire?
"Muslims and Buddhists: Get Out!" Says Preacher Applauded by Rick Santorum [Video]
Submitted on March 21, 2012By Adele M. Stan - AlterNet
...[A]t an event this weekend in Louisiana...the hatefulness of the Santorum agenda was exposed as the former senator from Pennsylvania applauded Pastor Dennis Terry of the Greenwell Springs Baptist Church, as he spewed hatred from the pulpit for gays, Muslims and Buddhists, the latter of whom he suggested don't really belong in America...And then he prayed over Santorum, asking for his angry, intolerant God to "have favor upon Rick Santorum," a blessing the candidate freely accepted.
War Crimes, International Law and the Elephant in the Room
Submitted on March 21, 2012By Rupen Savoulian - Green Left Weekly
The biggest outlaws in the world today are the US and allied governments. We would do well to hold their government officials to account in the dock.
Unveiling Canada's Role in Chile’s Environmental and Political Conflicts
Submitted on March 21, 2012By Cyril Mychalejko - March 21, 2012
A new report reveals the Canadian mining industrial complex's responsibility for social discord and environmentally-destructive policies in Chile's Patagonia region...“Far away, on the southern cone of South America in Chilean Patagonia, exists one of the most beautiful, still-virgin territories on Earth. There, an intense struggle is taking place that most Canadians have never heard of, but that intimately involves the Canadian mining industry, the Canadian government, and millions of Canadian pensioners and investors...”
Australian Police Taser Attack Kills Brazilian Student
Submitted on March 21, 2012By Zac Hambides - 21 March 2012
Visiting Brazilian student Roberto Laudisio Curti, aged just 21, died early on Sunday morning in the heart of Sydney after six police officers chased him and forced him to the ground, reportedly firing Taser stun guns at least three times. Police also admitted using capsicum spray...All the evidence indicates that police used potentially lethal force against an innocent young man, leading directly to his death, for no other reason that he supposedly failed to cooperate with police demands.
Smoke 'Em if You Got 'Em
Submitted on March 21, 2012A proposed by-law reveals tension between the desires for public health and a welcoming community
On March 14, Antigonish’s town council voted down the a proposal that would have prohibited all smoking on Main Street.
“I first thought when we looked at the smoke-free by-law…it sounded like a good idea,” said town councillor Willie Cormier.
However, a detailed study and community consultation made Cormier see the issue differently.
March's Tide is Here!
Submitted on March 21, 2012Available for download on-line, or pick-up around Halifax
Spring has sprung, and with it comes another double-sized edition of The Tide. Download one as an attachment here, or pick one up at any number of locations around Halifax. As you enjoy The Tide, why not consider becoming involved with the Media Coop in a variety of ways. We're always looking for writers, journalists, and, of course, sustainers.
Files attached to this post:
La lutte étudiante éclate à nouveau au Chili
Submitted on March 21, 2012Independent Jewish Voices Urges NDP Members Not to Vote for Thomas Mulcair [Video]
Submitted on March 21, 2012By Independent Jewish Voices - rabble.ca
...Mr. Mulcair's leadership campaign represents an electoral coalition with Canada's Israel Lobby...[Independent Jewish Voices] is a non-partisan organization and is not endorsing any candidate in the [New Democratic Party] leadership race. However, this information raises serious concerns about what direction Mulcair would take the party if he were to win the leadership race.
Asking the Wrong Questions About War
Submitted on March 20, 2012Give the New York Times a failing grade for daily scoundrel journalism instead of mandating what writers are supposed to do - their job.
Cops Unleash Attack Dogs, Students Suspended for "Thought Crimes" After Protesting School Conditions [Video]
Submitted on March 20, 2012By Sarah Seltzer - AlterNet
A group of enterprising public school students in Maryland tried to stage a basic protest over poor conditions, including 40-person classes, bad food, and poor treatment of both teachers and students...In response, police brought attack dogs to the school and a number of students were suspended for what they call "thought crimes."
U.S. Supreme Court Issues Reactionary Rulings on Warrants and Interrogations
Submitted on March 20, 2012By John Burton - WSWS
...[T]he Supreme Court continues, with the backing of Obama’s solicitor general...to weaken key provisions of the Bill of Rights...Last month, the Supreme Court ruled that police officers who obtain and serve invalid warrants cannot be sued, and that they do not have to give the familiar Miranda warnings to jail and prison inmates prior to interrogations. Both anti-civil rights decisions affirmed positions urged by the solicitor general.
U.S. Afghan Detainees Sent to Torture Prisons
Submitted on March 20, 2012Post-9/11, torture became official US policy. Bush officials mandated it. Obama continues it in US overseas prisons and foreign ones, including in Afghanistan.
"Don't Attack Iran!" Five Lessons from the Iraq War
Submitted on March 20, 2012By James Clark - March 20, 2012
March 20 marks the nine-year anniversary of the start of the Iraq war, but it still feels a lot like 2003. The pro-war arguments that were exposed as lies almost a decade ago are now making a comeback, this time to justify an attack on Iran. As the U.S., Israel and their allies -- including Canada -- make the case for war, anti-war activists must respond with the case against it.
White Sheets Surrounding Florida Teen's Slaying
Submitted on March 20, 2012By LINN WASHINGTON, JR - Counterpunch
In March 1799 authorities in North Carolina found no fault in a teen fatally shooting a black man after confronting that man about his being on a public road...In February 2012 authorities in Florida found no fault in a man fatally shooting a black teen after confronting that teen about his being on a public road.
Circle of Clowns Playing With Fire
Submitted on March 20, 2012By Bill Fletcher - Znet
It is difficult to watch the spectacle of the Republican primaries and not agree with...[the] description of those candidacies as nothing more...than a ‘circle of clowns.’ At each moment one or the other candidate seems to go deeper into the swamp, whether through denigrating science, attacking women or attempting to ridicule President Obama for supporting college education...[I]t feels as if we are going deeper and deeper into a new ‘dark age’ with mysticism, fear, militarism, racism and misogynism as the defining characteristics.
Fighting and Bombings in Syrian Capital
Submitted on March 20, 2012By Patrick Martin - 20 March 2012
Gun battles broke out in a western suburb of Damascus Monday morning, following a double car bombing Saturday that killed 27 people and injured more than a hundred...A spokesman for the Free Syrian Army, one of the main US-sponsored groups, [said]...the attack had been launched against security forces buildings “to tell the regime that the FSA is able to reach any point in the heart of Damascus.”
Only the West Gets to Kill Who They Want
Submitted on March 20, 2012By Carlo Sands - Green Left Weekly
One of life’s truisms is the powerful get to kill who they want...The world’s only superpower also gets to kill who it wants. The US president can, and has, ordered drone strikes against US citizens overseas — on no basis except the president’s say so...We don’t have this right...It is fucking hypocrisy.
Over 200,000 students on strike against tuition fee increases in Quebec
Submitted on March 20, 2012The student strike across Quebec is gaining momentum, with a growing number of daily actions and a record 215,000 students on strike.
No Abortion Services on Prince Edward Island
Submitted on March 20, 2012Island women fight for access in their own province
Kandace Hagen expected her nomination for a youth social justice award to be slightly controversial. After all, if she won, she would be recognized for her work advocating for abortion access in Prince Edward Island. She didn’t, however, expect to face a campaign by anti-abortion activists trying to ensure she didn’t win.
Two Eyes Are Better Than One
Submitted on March 20, 2012Dr. Heather Castleden and Team to Use Tradition and Science to Examine Effects of Boat Harbour
Halifax - Dr. Heather Castleden, in conjunction with the Pictou Landing Native Women's Association, will be undertaking a three year research study to determine the health effects of living next to Boat Harbour. The project is being largely funded by the Canadian Institute of Health and Research, which has enabled Dr.
"Shut the Fuck Up!:" Pigs in Miami Take Down Occupy at Gunpoint
Submitted on March 19, 2012March 19, 2012 - Infoshop News
We had just gathered everybody in the building together and were about to leave for the rally...We had not even passed the parking spaces in front of the building when we were suddenly stormed by a contingent of law enforcement...Vans, trucks, cars, even an armored Hummer surrounded us, and a variety of guns were aimed our way as we were ordered to get on the ground. It was a very disorienting and frightening situation, as none of us had ever had any firearm drawn on them, never mind firearms of military grade.
Washington Preparing for More War
Submitted on March 19, 2012Already embroiled in Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, and numerous proxy wars in Pakistan, Syria, Somalia, Yemen, Sudan, central Africa, and elsewhere, evidence suggests Obama's preparing for more.
China's Military Spending Surpasses $100 Billion
Submitted on March 19, 2012By John Chan - 19 March 2012
Beijing is expanding its military to defend the economic and strategic interests of Chinese capitalism. But the main driving force for this arms race is the aggressive stance taken by the US, particularly under the Obama administration, toward China. Washington’s strengthening of alliances and partnerships throughout the Asia region, and its military build-up in South East Asia, threaten to encircle China.
Victims of U.S. "Drug War" Mount as Media Yawns
Submitted on March 19, 2012By DANIEL KOVALIK - Counterpunch
...[I]t should be noted that while the U.S. is engaged in a violent war in which it claims to be fighting such illicit drugs as cocaine and heroin...legal prescription drugs manufactured by U.S. pharmaceutical companies are each year claiming the lives of Americans in numbers three time greater than those killed by cocaine and heroin. No one is calling for a war against those companies to confront this problem...
Hungary's Right-Wing Threat
Submitted on March 19, 2012By Ari Paul - Znet
From Nazi occupiers to the Soviet-backed puppet regime, Hungarians have known their share of despots. Now, at the prodding of human rights groups, the European Union is confronting a Hungarian government — led by the conservative ruling party Fidesz (Hungarian Civil Union) — that some say is bringing the country dangerously close to the fascism Europe has been striving to bury in the history books.
New York City Police Brutalize and Arrest Occupy Wall Street Protesters
Submitted on March 19, 2012By Sandy English - WSWS
Early Sunday morning, the New York Police Department (NYPD) arrested over 70 demonstrators who were commemorating the six-month anniversary of the start of Occupy Wall Street in Zuccotti Plaza in Lower Manhattan...Shortly after midnight, uniformed and plainclothes police moved into the plaza en masse and began to handcuff people. Other officers swung their batons. Some protesters linked arms and police tackled others to the ground as they pushed into the crowd.
Racists, Sexists and Homophobes: 13 Toxic Endorsers of Republican Presidential Candidates
Submitted on March 19, 2012By Adele M. Stan - AlterNet
What's stunning about this year's crop of endorsers of Republican presidential candidates is the torrent of venom, mendacity and absurdity that spills from their mouths and pens...There's also a peculiar dichotomy of styles represented: They either hail from the priggish, uptight wing of the party that loathes popular culture as coarse and sinful, or they represent that coarse and sex-laden culture. The thing they have in common? Hatred -- of somebody who's not like them.
"We Need to Fight Back!": Community March Against Racism takes to Vancouver streets
Submitted on March 19, 2012Hundreds of people took to the streets of Vancouver yesterday for a Community March Against Racism, marking the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (March 21st). The march, organized by No One is Illegal, began at Commercial Drive and 14th Avenue and made its way along the Drive to Grandview Park.
First Nations the Real Target of Government's War on Environment
Submitted on March 19, 2012By John Bennett - rabble.ca
What if the real goal of all this noise is not about marginalizing the eco-radicals and environmental charities – but First Nations? After all, First Nations have constitutional and property rights at stake in almost every major energy project, including the Northern Gateway Pipeline...What might be disturbing the government and oil companies most is the growing cooperation between First Nations and environmentalists.
CONCORDIA STUDENTS PUT THEIR PRESIDENT’S LUXURY CONDO UP FOR SALE
Submitted on March 19, 2012Lundi 19 mars 2012
COMMUNIQUÉ POUR DIFFUSION IMMÉDIATE
CONDO DE LUXE DU RECTEUR DE CONCORDIA MIS EN VENTE PAR LES ÉTUDIANTS
CKUT Off the Hour: Getting the Legal Perspective on "Robocalls"
Submitted on March 19, 2012CKUTs Liz Fox talks to Toronto Lawyer Peter Rosenthal on the Bi-Weekly segment of Harpers Bazaar
There have been over 700 reports of people in 31 different ridings receiving frodulant calls on federal election day last
March Against Racism 2012
Submitted on March 19, 2012VANCOUVER - Hundreds marched through East Vancouver yesterday marking the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination.
Check back for more VMC coverage
The Slave never gets freedom by asking nicely
Submitted on March 18, 2012raw footage downloaded from a life streaming provider, please excuse the quality, it's also at times upside down, it was already late...
March 17th. 2012
about just after midnight.
Another attack of a man who decides to life by the rule of law.
Coquitlam, occupied native land.
Condemning Israel's Racist Occupation
Submitted on March 18, 2012Ongoing nearly 45 years and counting. Crimes of war, against humanity, and unspeakable atrocities define it. Growing condemnation hastens ending it.
Guelph ABC G20 Repression Update
Submitted on March 18, 2012What we have compiled here are some updates about anti-authoritarians and anarchists who have been facing serious criminal charges following the actions of people in the streets, and in meetings prior to the summit. Many of these cases are still open and there are many other people who have been convicted and are serving sentences who aren’t tied to anarchist networks. We hope this will shed some light on what has happened since the riot.
Scoundrel Media Afghan Massacre Cover-Up
Submitted on March 18, 2012In all US war theaters, troops commit unspeakable atrocities. Trained to dehumanize enemies, their mission involves killing, destruction, and much more. Scoundrel media are directly complicit.
Was Staff Sergeant Shooter On Dangerous Malaria Drug?
Submitted on March 18, 2012By MARTHA ROSENBERG - March 16-18, 2012
Troops who have used Lariam blame the drug for nightmares, depression, paranoia, auditory hallucinations and other psychiatric symptoms including complete mental breakdowns...Family members have blamed [it] for their loved ones’ suicides. The effects of Lariam can last for “weeks, months, and even years,” after it’s stopped...The drug “should not be given to anyone with symptoms of a brain injury, depression or anxiety disorder...”
A "Significant Risk to Patients and Public:" UK Doctors Make Last-Ditch Warning Over National Health Service Shake-Up
Submitted on March 18, 2012By Denis Campbell - Sunday 18 March 2012
[Doctor's] analysis of the health and social care bill found the changes will result in worse care for millions of patients, with serious conditions such as cancer, wider health inequalities and poorer patients being disadvantaged..."It is likely that the most vulnerable who already suffer the worst health outcomes will be disadvantaged as a result of the enactment of the bill"...Poorer people are unlikely to be able to use the greater patient choice that the bill entails...["]The current reorganization is a recipe for things getting worse, not better."
Israel's Willing Executioners: AIPAC Invades Washington
Submitted on March 18, 2012By James Petras and Robin Eastman-Abaya - Dissident Voice
Israeli leaders have not secured the submission of the US because of Israel’s military, economic or political superiority: They have a puny economy, a fraction of the US nuclear weapons and have few allies and even less public approval in the international community. But they do have at least a half million fanatical, unconditional Zionist militants in the United States, including thousands of loyal multi-millionaires and billionaires who fund the campaigns of both Democrat and Republican parties.
Massacre Fatigue in Afghanistan
Submitted on March 18, 2012By ALEXANDER COCKBURN - Counterpunch Weekend Edition
Afghans could be forgiven for suffering “massacre fatigue”, precisely because “authorized military activity” by US troops and special forces in Afghanistan has long since degenerated into a lethal culture of assassination, “revenge” sorties, desecration of bodies, harvesting of trophies such as severed fingers, ears and the like...Afghans have also been able to study photographs of laughing American soldiers pissing on the bodies of dead Afghans.
Obama Menaces Iran With Military Threat
Submitted on March 18, 2012By Peter Symonds - 17 March 2012
US President Obama issued another menacing threat to Iran during a joint press conference at the White House with British Prime Minister David Cameron on Wednesday...Obama’s threat is just the latest sign that the US and its allies are preparing for war on Iran...[The] demands are simply the first in what will be an endless list of US ultimatums designed to force the Iranian regime to capitulate to Washington. They are aimed at providing the pretext for war, rather than reaching a negotiated settlement.
5 Freedom-Killing Tactics Police Will Use to Crack Down on Protests in 2012
Submitted on March 18, 2012By Steven Rosenfeld - March 16, 2012
The First Amendment right to assemble and protest is going to get a black eye in 2012 — as it has every time there has been an upsurge in America’s social justice movements. Already in city after city, protesters and civil rights lawyers are troubled by proposed and newly enacted anti-protest rules...In the meantime mayors, police and in some cases federal agencies are making detailed plans to thwart protests at local and national events.
Strategic Silences and Dangerous Liaisons: Iran and the Challenges of Anti-Imperialist Solidarity
Submitted on March 18, 2012By Nasim Forouzan - March 18, 2012
On Saturday, February 25, dozens gathered in Toronto for a lively discussion and exchange on the threat of war on Iran, featuring voices from anti-war groups, students, academics, and concerned members of the public...In this piece, I will review some of the major points of debate in the forum, and draw on these discussions as an entry point into evaluating the state of the broader anti-war movement on Iran. These reflections provide a rudimentary contribution towards a critique of the tendency of some anti-imperialists to adopt uncritical sympathies for authoritarian states.
TMC at Left Forum
Submitted on March 18, 2012Interview with Selma James - Activist and Author
New York - The TMC interviews Selma James, activist and author with Global Women’s Strike. She's currently based in London, UK.
Toronto Media Co-op: Why are you here?
Selma James: I’m here representing a number of women’s strikers, a number of whom are here from Philadelphia and the organization Payday, men that work with us.
TMC at Left Forum
Submitted on March 18, 2012Interview with Frances Fox Piven - Professor, Actvist, Left Forum Board Member
New York - Note: This interview took place a few hours before the reoccupation of Zuccotti Park, the site of the original Occupy Wall Street, by hundreds of protesters. The 'reoccupation' was a very uncoordindated and chaotic event with a heavy police presence. Police cleared the park approximately around midnight with 10-20 protestors being arrested.
Le droit à l’asile en voie de disparition
Submitted on March 18, 2012Le C-31 menace le statut de réfugié
Imaginez être citoyen d’un pays où des enfants de bas âge sont gardés en détention, incarcérés pendant des mois et parfois séparés de leurs parents.
Free Buses for HRM?
Submitted on March 18, 2012A radio interview on why public transit can - and should - stay free
I went on Maritime Morning, Weekend Edition this morning to talk about free public transportation in HRM, as outlined in this article. Audio file courtesy of News 95.7. (9:46)
Goldman Sachs: Making Money by Stealing It
Submitted on March 17, 2012Goldman's business model is grand theft.
From Cell to Screen: The Story of Mumia Abu-Jamal (Part 2)
Submitted on March 17, 2012Filmmakers Noelle Hanrahan and Stephen Vittoria further discuss their new documentary about political prisoner Mumia Abu-Jamal. They explain that the film's title “Long Distance Revolutionary” refers "to a man who in the 1960s, not only cut his teeth and nurtured himself on the revolution that was taking place in the streets, but wholeheartedly believed in all its tenets. Flash-forward to over forty years later and he has never stopped believing, never stopped moving that revolution forward."
Shut Your Facebook: British Muslim Facing Serious Charges for Anti-Occupation Rant
Submitted on March 17, 201216th March 2012 - SchNEWS Issue 809
“Troops Out” you say? You're fokkin' nicked then. If you're Muslim, live in the UK and say it on Facebook that is. This was the fate of Azhar Ahmed, 19, who chose Facebook as his medium to express his disgust that the deaths of 6 British soldiers serving in the occupation of Afghanistan was treated as a much more solemn and grief stricken event than the regular killings of Afghan civilians.
Madness is Not the Reason for this Massacre
Submitted on March 17, 2012By Robert Fisk - Znet
I'm getting a bit tired of the "deranged" soldier story. It was predictable, of course. The 38-year-old staff sergeant who massacred 16 Afghan civilians, including nine children, near Kandahar this week had no sooner returned to base than the defence experts and the think-tank boys and girls announced that he was "deranged". Not an evil, wicked, mindless terrorist – which he would be, of course, if he had been an Afghan, especially a Taliban – but merely a guy who went crazy.
How the Fundamentalist Mind Compels Conservative Christians to Force Their Beliefs on You
Submitted on March 17, 2012By Valerie Tarico - AlterNet
Beliefs have consequences, and one consequence of evangelical belief is that decent people end up doing ugly things in order to recruit converts and save souls. It is because they care about being good that they do harm...“With or without religion, you would have good people doing good things and evil people doing evil things. But for good people to do evil things, that takes religion.” The mechanism by which this happens is that religion creates a narrative in which the evil serves a higher good.
Social Counter-Revolution in Britain
Submitted on March 17, 2012By Chris Marsden - WSWS
Workers in Britain are suffering an ongoing and devastating decline in their living standards...The wages of the poorest fifth of workers were 43 percent lower in real terms in 2011 than in 1978. Middle-income workers have seen their wages fall in value by 36 percent...These grim statistics are only part of the picture. The destruction of public sector jobs is bound up with the drive to finalize the dismantling of what is left of the welfare state...All of these attacks have proceeded unopposed by the trade unions.
Drummond Report Recommendations Will be Devastating to Low Income Ontarians
Submitted on March 17, 2012By John Bonnar - rabble.ca
Michelle Hruschka can’t go back to school because she can’t shoulder the debt burden. Without a bursary for school or a decent job, she feels as if she’s run out of opportunities...She fears that if the government follows through on the Drummond report recommendations, more people will end up in her situation.
Canadian Editorial Cartoonist Can't Get Off No-Fly List
Submitted on March 17, 2012By Michelle Shephard - Thursday, March 15 2012
Shahid Mahmood has no desire to be in the media again. He has no axe to grind with the federal government, or Air Canada, or the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, or the RCMP, Public Safety Minister Vic Toews, or any of the Canadian and American officials who have had roles in his eight-year byzantine journey...All Mahmood wants to do is get through an airport like a normal passenger.
TMC: Live at Left Forum
Submitted on March 17, 2012Interviews and coverage live from the New York Conference
New York - The Toronto Media Co-op has set up shop at Left Forum doing interviews and coverage of the hundreds of different workshops and panels at this years massive leftist conference.
With over 200 panels and 3000 attendees, Left Forum claims to be "the largest annual gathering of the left in North America."
Another Activist Murdered for Resisting a Canadian Mine
Submitted on March 17, 2012March 16, 2012 - Vancouver Media Co-op
Tonight, we lost a comrade. Someone who understood very well that it was cheaper for Fortuna Silver to divide his people and for paramilitaries and police to repress them than it was for the company to consult with the community. Someone who could debunk "Corporate Social Responsibility" based on his own experience, and connect it to capitalism and the state...Bernardo Vasquez Sanchez was a clear spoken Zapotec activist, a brother, son, and cousin, who dared to stand up against a mining project in the territory of his people.
Ongoing Israeli State Terror
Submitted on March 16, 2012Throughout the Territories, Palestinians suffer horrifically. West Bank and East Jerusalem residents live in terror of pre-dawn raids, arrests, false charges, torture, rigged trials, and imprisonment. In a war zone, besieged Gazans have it worst.
Israeli-Style Ceasefires
Submitted on March 16, 2012After an Egyptian brokered truce all Gazan sides accepted, Israel preemptively attacked a funeral procession east of Gaza City. Three Palestinians were injured. On March 14, Israeli warplanes bombed northern Gaza. Damage but no injuries were reported.
Open Letter to the People: Top 10 Reasons to Support the Quebec Student Strike
Submitted on March 16, 2012By Tim McSorley - Coop Média de Montréal
Two weeks ago, the undergraduate students in our School voted to go on strike; last week, our graduate students joined the ranks. This week, all students, graduate and undergraduate alike, will be boycotting classes. As Concordia faculty, we fully support the strike. Here are the top ten reasons why.
Cops in Oakland Keep Track of "Anarchists"
Submitted on March 16, 2012By Yael Chanoff - March 14, 2012
It seems that those officers reporting on the crowd equate anarchists with illegal activity, and believe they can identify adherents to anarchism based on appearance and behavior...Anarchism is a political ideology, and not illegal. Yet officers apparently count out individuals that they perceive as anarchists.
How Can the U.S. Condemn Children to Die in Prison?
Submitted on March 16, 2012By Randy Hertz - March 15, 2012
"...[J]uvenile offenders cannot with reliability be classified among the worst offenders" because they are less mature and their sense of responsibility has not fully developed. They are more vulnerable to negative internal and external influences, including peer pressure. Unlike adults, they can’t control or escape dysfunctional homes and dangerous neighborhoods...They also have a greater chance for rehabilitation..."[F]rom a moral standpoint it would be misguided to equate the failings of a minor with those of an adult."
Statement Supporting the Syrian Movement for Dignity and Self-Determination and Opposing Militarization of the Struggle and Foreign Military Intervention
Submitted on March 16, 2012March 16th, 2012 - Tadamon!
...[W]hile the Syrian opposition faces the harsh repression of state military and security forces, it simultaneously finds itself courted by powers which view the Syrian popular uprising as an opportunity to advance economic and strategic interests antithetical to the goal of self-determination for the peoples of the region. Just as the Syrian state...cynically uses the language of resistance to justify its repressive hold on power, Western states hypocritically support calls for democracy and denounce the brutality of a regime with which they have cooperated in the past...
"The Attacks On Us Are Extraordinarily Revealing:" An Interview With WikiLeaks Founder Julian Assange
Submitted on March 16, 2012By Richard Phillips - WSWS
"Regarding the pending Supreme Court decisions in Great Britain over the Swedish extradition case, if we are unsuccessful then I’m expecting to be extradited to Sweden within 10 days and then possibly re-extradited to the United States. Even if we are successful in the [British] Supreme Court, the situation will be similar because the United States is likely to unseal its espionage charges through the grand jury and apply directly for my extradition from Great Britain."
- Julian Assange
A Decade of America Ravaging Afghanistan
Submitted on March 16, 2012US imperial wars treat civilians like combatants. To facilitate killing, soldiers are taught to dehumanize enemies, especially darker-skinned ones and Muslims.
America's Subversion of Haiti's Democracy Continues
Submitted on March 16, 2012By Mark Weisbrot - Znet
Haitians have been ready for democracy for many decades. They were ready when they got massacred at polling stations, trying to vote in 1987, after the fall of the murderous Duvalier dictatorship. They were ready again in 1990, when they voted by a two-thirds majority for the leftist Catholic priest Jean-Bertrand Aristide, only to see him overthrown seven months later in a military coup. The coup was later found to have been organized by people paid by the United States Central Intelligence Agency.
Police Brutality Protest in Peterborough Ontario
Submitted on March 16, 2012Statement Supporting the Syrian Movement for Dignity and Self-Determination and Opposing Militarization of the Struggle and Foreign Military Intervention
Submitted on March 16, 2012March 16th, 2012 - Tadamon!
...[W]hile the Syrian opposition faces the harsh repression of state military and security forces, it simultaneously finds itself courted by powers which view the Syrian popular uprising as an opportunity to advance economic and strategic interests antithetical to the goal of self-determination for the peoples of the region. Just as the Syrian state...cynically uses the language of resistance to justify its repressive hold on power, Western states hypocritically support calls for democracy and denounce the brutality of a regime with which they have cooperated in the past...
Buried Alive Cruel and Unusual Punishment
Submitted on March 16, 2012What America's Eighth Amendment and international law prohibit, US federal, state and local prisons permit. Many thousands are affected. Supposedly solely for the "worst of the worst," solitary confinement is used abusively as punishment without cause, despite no legitimate penological purpose.
Cops Shoot Explosives at Protesters' Heads in Montreal
Submitted on March 16, 2012By Scott Weinstein - March 16, 2012
I'm just back as a medic from the large student strike and anti-police brutality demonstration in Montreal where the cops were shooting exploding tear gas canisters and flash-bang grenades into crowds of people -- really irresponsible, criminal and injurious.
From Cell to Screen: The Story of Mumia Abu-Jamal (Part I)
Submitted on March 16, 2012Noelle Hanrahan and Stephen Vittoria are working on a new film entitled, Long Distance Revolutionary: A Journey with Mumia Abu-Jamal.
Another Activist Murdered for Resisting a Canadian Mine
Submitted on March 15, 2012Bernardo Vásquez killed in Oaxaca, two others wounded
Tonight, we lost a comrade. Someone who understood very well that it was cheaper for Fortuna Silver to divide his people and for paramilitaries and police to repress them than it was for the company to consult with the community. Someone who could debunk "Corporate Social Responsibility" based on his own experience, and connect it to capitalism and the state.
Enough is Enough!
Submitted on March 15, 2012Downtown Eastside community rallies against police brutality
DOWNTOWN EASTSIDE - A lively community rally occupied the intersection of Main and Hastings earlier this evening, as part of the International Day Against Police Brutality. Close to a hundred people gathered in a circle in the busy intersection to listen to community organizers and residents speak out about police abuse and issues facing the Downtown Eastside.
U.S. and UK Vow No Change in War After Afghanistan Massacre
Submitted on March 15, 2012By Bill Van Auken - 15 March 2012
US President Barack Obama and British Prime Minister David Cameron used a joint White House press conference Wednesday to stress that there will be no shift in Afghanistan war strategy in the wake of last weekend’s savage massacre of 16 civilians in Kandahar province...There will be no “sudden, immediate changes to the plan we already have,” declared Obama.
Are We About to Get Embroiled in a Nightmare War With Iran?
Submitted on March 15, 2012By Noam Chomsky - March 13, 2012
As tensions escalate, eerie echoes of the run-up to the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq are in the air. Feverish U.S. primary campaign rhetoric adds to the drumbeat...Concerns about “the imminent threat” of Iran are often attributed to the “international community” – code language for U.S. allies. The people of the world, however, tend to see matters rather differently.
Dick Cheney scared away from Canada by Vancouver demonstration
Submitted on March 15, 2012Former US Vice President cancels Toronto visit
War criminal and self-confessed torturer Dick Cheney has canceled a Toronto speaking appearance due to 'security concerns' caused by the lively resistance to a visit he made to Vancouver last fall.
Ani DiFranco's "¿Which Side Are You On?": A "Radical" Artist Openly Embraces Obama and the Democrats
Submitted on March 15, 2012By Jeff Lusanne - WSWS
¿Which Side Are You On? by independent American folk artist Ani DiFranco, is an album that raises significant issues facing artists today — above all, how to view society critically. In this case, the results are disappointing...In the last 15 years, the fuel of social inequality, war, and repression has begun to light a flame of opposition greater than any seen in decades, yet DiFranco has turned away. She now directs her largely youthful audience toward the existing political system, falsely and misleadingly claiming it is willing to listen to them.
Restrictive Bail Conditions Removed for Three Arrested at January Rally Against the Ford Cuts
Submitted on March 15, 2012By John Bonnar - rabble.ca
Three Toronto residents arrested on January 17 for voicing their opposition to Rob Ford’s 2012 budget won a major victory Thursday, when their lawyer announced that their bail conditions had been lifted through a compromise with the Crown Attorney’s office...“The bail conditions were interfering with our client’s right to constitutional protest, assembly and other constitutional freedoms...”
NATO's Craven Cover-Up of its Libyan Bombing
Submitted on March 15, 2012By VIJAY PRASHAD - March 15, 2012
Ten days into the uprising in...Libya, the United Nations’ Human Rights Council established the International Commission of Inquiry on Libya. The purpose of the Commission was to “investigate all alleged violations of international human rights law in Libya”...On March 2, 2012, the Commission finally produced a two hundred-page document that was presented to the Human Rights Council in Geneva...[T]he report is fairly revelatory, making two important points: first, that all sides on the ground committed war crimes...second, that there remains a distinct lack of clarity regarding potential NATO war crimes. Not enough can be made of these two points.
CKUT: Live Update from Montreal Anti-Police Brutality Demo
Submitted on March 15, 2012CKUT's Stefan Christoff reports from downtown Montreal
March 15 marks the International Day of Action Against Police Brutality, and each year, a large demonstration against police brutality and repression takes place in Montreal.
Montreal Cops Declare Anti-Police Brutality March "Illegal" [Video]
Submitted on March 15, 2012March 15, 2012 - CBC News
Police ordered anti-brutality protesters to disperse, with riot officers charging the crowd as some threw rocks...At least 1,000 people showed up at the Berri metro station Thursday for the annual march against police brutality...In 2011, 258 people were arrested.
Afghan Taliban Suspend Peace Talks With U.S.
Submitted on March 15, 201215 Mar 2012 - Al Jazeera
The Afghan Taliban have announced the suspension of all negotiations with the United States..."The Islamic Emirate has decided to suspend all talks with Americans taking place in Qatar from today onwards until the Americans clarify their stance on the issues concerned and until they show willingness in carrying out their promises instead of wasting time..."
Protesters Demand Full Inquiry Into Deaths of Mentally Ill Individuals Involving Police After Man Shot Dead
Submitted on March 15, 2012By Eric Mark Do - Toronto Media Co-op
The police shooting death of Michael Eligon earlier in February prompted about 60 demonstrators to protest outside Toronto Police Headquarters on February 10. While Eligon’s mental-health status has not been disclosed, the protesters called for a formal public inquiry into cases where mentally ill individuals died during interactions with police. Many said that these deadly interactions are part of systemic issues that need to be addressed.
UPDATE: Musqueam Burial Site
Submitted on March 15, 2012Three-day blockade wins three-week reprieve
MUSQUEAM TERRITORY - Excavation for a condo project has been halted at an ancient Musqueam burial site. Members of the Musqueam First Nation packed up their around-the-clock blockade at the site last night.
CKUT's Morning After: repression and resistance in Honduras
Submitted on March 15, 2012Interview with Jesse Freeston on his new movie, Resistencia
Inteview with Jesse Freeston, a videojournalist and filmmaker who covers central american politics and social movements. He talks to us about his new documentary about post-coup d'État Honduras, "Resistencia".
Guantanamo Prison's True Secret: Jason Leopold in Conversation With Andy Worthington
Submitted on March 15, 2012British journalist Andy Worthington, the author of “The Guantanamo Files: The Stories of the 774 Detainees in America’s Illegal Prison,” has been documenting the array of human rights abuses at Guantanamo for over six years now. He was recently a guest speaker alongside investigative journalist Jason Leopold at the UC Hastings College of Law, in San Francisco, hosted by the college’s chapter of the National Lawyers Guild. The event, entitled “Ten Years of Guantanamo,” was held amidst protests around the world calling for the prison to be immediately shut.
CKUT Native Solidarity News: Innu Blocade Demonstration March 13th 2012
Submitted on March 15, 2012Over 150 people gathered to express support for the Innu Blocade that took place the week of March 5th
On March 13th, over 150 poeple gathered in downtown Montreal to express support for the Innu people who were blocading highway 138 the week of mach 5th. They marched from Phillips square to the Hydro Quebec building. CKUT intern Liz Fox was there to record what went on.
This report aired on March 13th on Native Solidarity News on CKUT from 18:00-19:00.
CKUT's Off the Hour: Red Square Report for March 14
Submitted on March 15, 2012Front-Runner for NDP Leader Considered Joining Harper Conservatives
Submitted on March 15, 2012By Carl Bronski - 15 March 2012
[Thomas] Mulcair has a long and well-documented record as a big business politician. But in recent weeks a new element in his political biography has come to light that underscores not only how right-wing are Mulcair’s politics, but the extent to which the [New Democratic Party] is a capitalist party no different from the Liberals and Conservatives. Prior to joining the NDP...Mulcair had a dalliance with the Conservative government of Stephen Harper.
Pay Up or Power Down
Submitted on March 15, 2012Nova Scotia Power tacks seemingly arbitrary "security deposit" charge to customers' bills
Having trouble paying your power bill? Be careful: don't fall too far behind on the wrong day, or you might just find a pricey surprise in the mail.
Life for Gold
Submitted on March 15, 2012Canadian mining company abuses in Central America
Gwendolyn Muir and Rachel Small have just returned to Canada after nine months. The two women were working in Guatemala with local community groups through an internship with Breaking the Silence – a Maritimes-based Guatemalan solidarity group.
Targeted Killings: U.S. and Israeli Specialties
Submitted on March 14, 2012International law permits justifiable self-defense. Targeted killings are prohibited, especially premeditated ones like America and Israel repeatedly commit for reasons other than claimed. These incidents constitute cold-blooded murder.
Massacres the Rule, Not the Exception: The Afghan People's Right to Resist
Submitted on March 14, 2012By John V. Walsh - Dissident Voice
Let us be perfectly clear. The right to resist occupation by any and all means is enshrined in international law and somewhere deeply in the human brain. And that includes resisting by force...Afghanistan did not attack the U.S....And we would also do well to remember that Afghanistan was labeled as “smart” war by Obama...It is not a “smart” war at all – but a brutal, murderous occupation.
German Government Study Promotes Campaign Against Immigrant Communities
Submitted on March 14, 2012By Martin Kreickenbaum - WSWS
At the end of February, the German Interior Ministry published a study entitled “Young Muslims in Germany”. The study’s publication has become the occasion for a renewed campaign against immigrant communities...This deliberate political campaign seeks to limit the study’s findings to that which can be exploited for the dissemination of xenophobic sentiments...[A] dubious scientific study has once again triggered a debate on integration, which is nothing more than a smear campaign against migrants living and working in Germany.
The Woes of a Radical Union Activist: Why Do Workers Accept the "Sellouts" of their Unions as Conditions Keep Getting Worse?
Submitted on March 14, 2012Debates with titles asking “Cooperation or Class Struggle?” are almost trivial in today's situation. Everyone knows that unions today are socially-oriented partnerships that see class struggle as absurd and part of a long forgotten past. Everyone can easily see that the unions subordinate the interests of those they represent to the requirements, needs and interests of the opposing side, to capital.
The Case for Permanent Free Public Transit
Submitted on March 14, 2012
By Ben Sichel
Public transit will be running again in HRM this week, and until the end of March transit users will enjoy unlimited free rides on buses and ferries.
CEP Local 1520 Boxed Out
Submitted on March 14, 2012Workers at Maritime Paper Draw Parallels Between Theirs, Other Struggles
HALIFAX - CEP Local 1520, representing the 105 members working at the Maritime Paper plant in the Burnside Industrial Park, walked off the job on Friday, March 9th. At stake, according to local president Rob Schwartz, is management's refusal to back down from a new, two-tiered, pension system.
March Madness and the "Civil Rights Movement for Our Times"
Submitted on March 14, 2012By Dave Zirin - March 12, 2012
In 1968, Tommie Smith and John Carlos raised their fists at the Olympic games, taking a stand against the injustices they saw in their corner in the Sports World. The year 2012 is crying out for similar displays of athletic militancy but we shouldn’t have to wait for this summer’s Olympics. The time for action is right now during the NCAA men’s college basketball tournament. We need young people of uncommon courage stepping forward into...“the civil rights movement for our times,” the inequity and exploitation engineered by the NCAA.
The Woes of a Radical Union Activist: Why Do Workers Accept the "Sellouts" of their Unions as Conditions Keep Getting Worse?
Submitted on March 14, 2012Debates with titles asking “Cooperation or Class Struggle?” are almost trivial in today's situation. Everyone knows that unions today are socially-oriented partnerships that see class struggle as absurd and part of a long forgotten past. Everyone can easily see that the unions subordinate the interests of those they represent to the requirements, needs and interests of the opposing side, to capital.
Six Ways the Media Has Misreported Syria
Submitted on March 14, 2012By AFSHIN MEHRPOUYA - Counterpunch
As in the case of Libya, from the NY Times to Fox News, from the Guardian to the National Post and from Le Monde to Le Figaro, the Western mainstream media’s coverage of the Syrian conflict has been mostly simplistic and black & white with a Hollywoodian good (opposition) and evil (Syrian government) story...These outlets use any information that supports their stance regardless of its source and quality, and dismiss or ignore any information that brings it to question.
Open letter to the people: top 10 reasons to support the student strike
Submitted on March 14, 2012This is an open letter written by Anna Kruzynski and Eric Shragge, professors at the School of Community and Public Affairs, Concordia University,
Tuesday March 13th, 2012.
Indigenous Resistance in Panama to Canadian Mining
Submitted on March 14, 2012Interview with Guna and Rappahannock actor/playwright Monique Mojica
On March 1 I watched Guna and Rappahannock actor/playwright Monique Mojica perform her show Chocolate Woman Dreams the Milky Way as part of the Talking Stick Festival in Vancouver. The show is about a Guna granddaughter who can only heal from personal and historical trauma by connecting with her powerful feminine forces in her culture.
Former U.S. Vice President Deems Canada "Too Dangerous" for Speaking Visit
Submitted on March 14, 2012By Associated Press - March 12, 2012
Former U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney canceled a Canadian speaking appearance because of security concerns sparked by demonstrations during a visit he made to Vancouver last fall...Cheney was scheduled to talk about his experiences in office and the current American political situation at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre on April 24.
A Perimeter Approach to Security and the Transformation of the U.S.-Canada Border
Submitted on March 14, 2012By Dana Gabriel
U.S.-Canada bilateral dialogue on strategic issues concerning the Beyond the Border deal continues as the action plan lays out deadlines where initiatives will be incrementally implemented over the next several years. The proposed changes promise to bring about a radical transformation of the northern border. This will further bring Canadian security practices in line with American ones and under the reach of the Department of Homeland Security.
"What Happens If We Get Caught?:" Secret Australian SAS Operations in Africa
Submitted on March 14, 2012By James Cogan - 14 March 2012
The Melbourne Age published allegations on Monday that a secret unit of the Australian military’s elite Special Air Service (SAS) had been deployed on “dozens” of illegal spying operations inside a number of African countries over the past year. The missions, including in Zimbabwe, Kenya and Nigeria, had been “assessing border controls, exploring landing sites for possible military interventions and possible escape routes for the evacuation of Australian nationals and military assessments of local politics and security.”
International Day Against Police Brutality in Toronto and Vancouver (Thursday, March 15)
Submitted on March 14, 2012By Krystalline Kraus - March 14, 2012
Calls for police accountability and community control over policing, and connected demands to stop prison expansion and prison abolition often tie together municipal, provincial and federal security apparatuses, but one branch of federal policing often gets off scot-free: Immigration Enforcement [which]...is a daily brutal reality for the 500,000 people living without status in Canada...Immigration Enforcement is an armed policing unit that terrorizes people as they work, as they access health-care, as they try to sleep...Immigration Enforcement is a police force that must be made accountable to communities.
Joint Statement on Minister Jason Kenney’s Condemnation of Israeli Apartheid Week
Submitted on March 14, 2012March 9, 2012 - Coalition Against Israeli Apartheid
As organizations and groups committed to protecting freedom of expression and public debate on Palestine/Israel, we demand that Minister of Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism Jason Kenney immediately retract his March 7th statement “condemning Israel Apartheid Week”...This statement is the Conservative government’s latest attempt to silence activist groups and organizations in Canada that act or speak in support of the basic human rights of the Palestinian people.
CKUT Off The Hour: The First Edition of the Red Square Report
Submitted on March 14, 2012News on the Student Strike in Montreal
This is the first edition of the Red Square Report.
California Hospital Kicks Out Dying Cancer Patient For Using Doctor-Prescribed, Legal Pot
Submitted on March 14, 2012By David Edwards - March 14, 2012
A California woman who says she is dying from a brain tumor was kicked out of a California hospital this week for using doctor-prescribed medical marijuana...“I’m in a state university hospital in the state of California...And I have a right to have the same medical care that any other patient does, and [the pharmacist] says, ‘We’re going to have to ask you to leave then if you’re not going to not use your cannabis.’”
U.S. Labor "Movement" Endorses Obama: Age-Old Racket Continues
Submitted on March 14, 2012By Ben Schreiner - March 14th, 2012
...[S]ome “friend” [of labor] Mr. Obama has proven to be. After all, the president extended the Bush tax cuts; he signed the Colombian, Panamanian and South Korean free trade agreements; and he left the Employee Free Choice Act...to wither and die in the Congress. In other words, he repeatedly sided with the proverbial one percent and against his labor “friends”...For [AFL-CIO President Richard] Trumka and the national labor bureaucracy, though, the glass is apparently always half full when it comes to the Democrats.
Israel's Rogue Killing Machine
Submitted on March 14, 2012Israel's entire history reflects depraved, out-of-control targeted and mass killings. Days of unrelenting bombing, murdering and injuring Gazans shows its contempt for law and human life.
Canada (and Quebec) Inc. Give Mulcair's NDP Leadership Bid the Kiss of Death
Submitted on March 14, 2012By Jooneed Khan - March 14, 2012
Thomas Mulcair's [New Democratic Party] leadership bid is looking more and more like a counter-attack by the 1 per cent to take over the NDP and steer it towards the so-called "extreme centre," and even turn it into a "New Liberal Party." That is something Quebec voters will not accept. The 1 per cent does not fear a backlash: a rightward shift would make the NDP decline -- if not disappear in Quebec -- and the moribund Liberals could reap enough votes to breathe new life into their party.
Quebec students strike back
Submitted on March 13, 2012The University of Ottawa shows support to Quebec Students
As of Mar.
Airport Commissionaires Hope to Avoid, But are Ready to Strike
Submitted on March 13, 2012Members of PSAC local 851000, employed by Commissionaires Nova Scotia (CNS) at the Halifax International Airport, today undertook an afternoon information picket. The 175 member local has voted 90% to strike, rejecting the CNS's final offer of January 19th, 2012.
Why the CIA Funds Nonviolence Training
Submitted on March 13, 2012By Stuart Jeanne Bramhall - March 13th, 2012
One important aspect of the debate over “diversity of tactics”...in the Occupy movement relates to mounting evidence of the role CIA and Pentagon-funded foundations and think tanks play in funding and promoting nonviolent resistance training. The two major US foundations promoting nonviolence...are the Albert Einstein Institution (AEI) and the International Center for Nonviolent Conflict (ICNC). Both receive major corporate and/or government funding, mostly via CIA “pass through” foundations.
Syria: When Cannibals Preach Vegetarianism
Submitted on March 13, 2012By AHMAD BARQAWI - March 12, 2012
The level of hypocrisy one finds in the Syrian issue is truly something to marvel at; and it speaks volumes about the real agenda of those on the hunt for Assad...Hillary Clinton denounced the Syrian regime’s “campaign of violence against its own citizens” all the while American drone strikers were murdering Yemeni and Afghan civilians in their sleep; a true case of cannibals preaching vegetarianism.
Baloney 2012: Imperialist Propaganda Film Making Waves on YouTube
Submitted on March 13, 2012By Sean Fenley - Dissident Voice
US militarism being promoted as a solution or panacea is never an answer. American military advisers going into a nation is...rarely — if ever — good...The film and its campaigners are certainly folks to continue to keep a close eye on in my opinion...[P]erhaps they are just well meaning dupes, but the film presents a very limited picture as to what ails the Central African nation of Uganda. And again to exuberantly support US militarism...is unequivocally highly suspect to even downright reprehensible at the absolute very worst.
Washington Plans War on Syria
Submitted on March 13, 2012Expect premeditated aggressive war on Syria.
Why Blade Runner? Your Thoughts and Memories Are Not Your Own
Submitted on March 13, 2012While we may not have been directly implanted with Eldon Tyrell's niece's memories, our DNA reeks of Horatio Alger and our own bootstraps.
Bassam Haddad: The Syrian Uprisings and the Question of Resistance
Submitted on March 13, 2012In this presentation, Bassam Haddad, professor and editor with the Jadaliyya Ezine, discusses the structural causes for the emergence of the Syrian uprising and the factors that explain the stalemate thus far. He specifically speaks about critical questions of regional politics, particularly those related to the issue of resistance and the left.
No Pretense of an Excuse for Continued Israeli Attacks on Gaza
Submitted on March 13, 2012By Eva Bartlett - March 13, 2012
"I live in Tel el Hawa, Gaza City. The first bombings last Friday...happened in Tel el Hawa. Since then, basically, from south till north Gaza, from east till west, nowhere is safe. They even bombed populated areas and high-traffic areas. The bombing affects everyone, including myself and my family; it is not safe to go to work or school. But if I could leave, I wouldn't! I want to stick with my people here, I am not better than them, and we are all in this together. Some might leave, but the majority won't leave their lands, houses, and country."
- Omar Ghraeib, a 25-year-old Palestinian who blogs when he has electricity.
Cops Kill Autistic Teen in Suburban Chicago Home
Submitted on March 13, 2012By Shane Feratu - 13 March 2012
Fifteen-year-old Stephon Watts was shot and killed in his home by Calumet City Police officers on February 1...Stephon was diagnosed with Asperger’s syndrome, an autism spectrum disorder, at age nine...The young boy’s death is a result of the total breakdown of the most basic mental health services available to working families in many areas of the US...replacing mental health care with law enforcement, resulting in the criminalization of those in need of care.
New York Times Wages War on Palestine
Submitted on March 12, 2012Like all US major media scoundrels, longstanding New York Times policy features one-sided pro-Israeli reports, commentaries, and opinions. Its coverage of Israel's latest Gaza aggression is one of many examples.
"Neighborhood Watch" Vigilante Kills Teenager in Florida
Submitted on March 12, 2012By David Edwards - Monday, March 12, 2012
The parents of a Florida teen are demanding that a neighborhood watch captain be arrested after their 17-year-old son was gunned down in February, possibly because his bag of Skittles was mistaken for a weapon...“I think it’s just profiling, I think it has something to do with the fact that he was a young black African-American kid...”
Montréal: manifestation de solidarité avec les Innus
Submitted on March 12, 2012
À Montréal, près de 200 personnes ont participé aujourd'hui, 12 mars 2012, à une marche de solidarité avec les Innus de la Côte-Nord.
Touring Canada's Complicity in Torture
Submitted on March 12, 2012By Tim Groves - Toronto Media Co-op
On Thursday March 8th, a "Torture Tour" brought a roving protest of 50 people who traveled in Caravan to a variety of sites in the Toronto area that are complicit in torture. The protest came shortly after documents released through access to information revealed that the minister of Public Safety, Vic Toews, had given [Canadian Security and Intelligence Service] permission to share information that could lead to torture, and to use information derived from torture.
What is Solidarity?
Submitted on March 12, 2012Solidarity means to take sides with a group of people who are oppressed and exploited by a power that they are trying to counteract. The starting point for solidarity is that the interest of the addressee is actually shared or at least considered worthy of support.
Bored But Not Broken: Un/welcome Distractions
Submitted on March 12, 2012By Mandy Hiscocks - March 12, 2012
For now, I'd like to tell you about a very unwelcome, albeit somewhat fascinating distraction from last week's tedium: my unexpected visit with John Dyer of the provincial operations intelligence bureau of the Ontario Provincial Police...An ex-cop who spied, tried to turn people into agents of the state, and then helped put a bunch of folks in jail? Not really the kind of person we need on our side, fuck you very much.
To Protect Our Ancestors
Submitted on March 12, 2012Musqueam First Nation members, supporters halt condo construction threatening c̓əsnaʔəm village and midden site in Marpole
At sunrise this morning, dozens of Musqueam First Nation Band members and supporters gathered to halt condominium construction threatening the ancient village and midden site of c̓əsnaʔəm. The demonstrators prevented contractors from entering the site, located near the northern end of the Arthur Laing bridge in the Marpole neighbourhood, on the southern edge of Vancouver.
Témoignage de Maude Chalvin du Projet Accompagnement Solidarité Colombie (PASC)
Submitted on March 12, 2012Complément audio du compte-rendu "Journée de solidarité avec les femmes, organiser un Plan des Femmes face à l’offensive des minières canadiennes"
Journée de solidarité avec les femmes, organiser un Plan des Femmes face à l’offensive des minières canadiennes
Submitted on March 12, 2012Témoignage de la Rév. Marie-Claude Manga de Beaconsfield Initiative
Submitted on March 12, 2012Complément audio du compte-rendu "Journée de solidarité avec les femmes, organiser un Plan des Femmes face à l’offensive des minières canadiennes"
La situation particulière du Congo. L’utilisation du viol à grande échelle pour déposséder les femmes de leurs corps et les hommes de leur terre, ainsi qu’une piste de solution pour soustraire les femmes à cette violence.
Témoignage de Lesvia Vela
Submitted on March 12, 2012Complément audio du compte-rendu "Journée de solidarité avec les femmes, organiser un Plan des Femmes face à l’offensive des minières canadiennes"
Les inquiétudes d’une femme maya concernant la communauté de San Marcos et les répercussions causées par l’exploitation minière dans cette région.
Outsourcing the Drug Industry
Submitted on March 12, 2012By MARTHA ROSENBERG - March 12, 2012
Before the Vioxx scandal and major settlements over blockbuster drugs...being a Pharma rep was probably the next best thing to working on Wall Street. Direct-to-consumer advertising did your pre-sell for you, and all you had to do was show up with your snappy Vytorin tote bag and samples case. Some Pharma reps had their own reception room with ice water, swivel chairs, and laptop ports at medical offices, and most waltzed in to see the doctor right in front of waiting and sick patients. (It didn’t hurt that reps were usually “hotties,” both men or women).
America's Afghanistan Legacy
Submitted on March 12, 2012America's rogue killing machine keeps ravaging Afghanistan.
The Selective Compassion of the Media and Human Rights Establishment
Submitted on March 12, 2012By DANIEL KOVALIK - Counterpunch
Human Rights Watch has...been a champion of the U.S.’s military plan in Colombia known as Plan Colombia — as it has been a cheerleader for interventions in Libya and Syria — which has claimed over 250,000 victims...Indeed, Jose Miguel Vivanco, the director for Americas at Human Rights Watch, recently admitted as much in an interview...but still pressed on with his support of the Colombian government’s military offensive...I’m sure this was music to the ears of the U.S. which also...true to form, has opted for perpetual war.
Musqueam Block Destruction of Ancient Burial Site
Submitted on March 12, 2012MUSQUEAM TERRITORY - Musqueam First Nation members and supporters have blocked condo construction at the site of an ancient burial ground. Construction at the site, on Vancouver's west side, was slated to start this morning. Workers and the 'owner' of the property were turned away when they showed up at 1338 SW Marine Drive around 7:30 this morning.
Police Violence and Retaliation in the Context of the Quebec Student General Strike Movement
Submitted on March 12, 2012March 11, 2012 - Coop Média de Montréal
These despicable...actions from the City of Montréal’s Police Service can be better understood in the broader context of the rising police violence and political repression in KKKanada, as illustrated by the mass arrest and illegal detention of more than 1,000 protesters during the G-20 counter-summit in Toronto...the creation of a special squad by the Montréal police to repress the anarchist movement, as well as the high number of murders perpetrated by police officers.
Cuts in UK Push Workers' Living Standards Back 30 Years
Submitted on March 12, 2012By Jean Shaoul - WSWS
Working families struggling to make ends meet are worse off than they were 30 years ago...[T]he Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition is pushing low-paid local government workers into poverty...There is to be no relief for the lowest paid. The government is expected to block any increase in the minimum wage, and wage rates are constantly declining as unemployment rises towards 3 million.
Israeli Buffer Zone State Terror
Submitted on March 12, 2012Israel shoots Gazan civilians on their own land, including children.
Will Harper Back a Unilateral Israeli Attack on Iran?
Submitted on March 12, 2012By Murray Dobbin - rabble.ca
Harper is proud of his lock-step support of the U.S. on most foreign policy issues. But he has made it known that Canada will support Israel no matter what, which in effect means that Israel, not the United States, is Canada's de facto closest ally on Middle East policy. That is a reckless foreign policy based not on Canada's interests but on Harper's domestic politics.
GroundWire March 11th 2012
Submitted on March 12, 2012Israeli Apartheid Week, KI First Nation Resists Exploration, Policing and Imprisoning the Poor
This episode of GroundWire is produced and hosted by Fraser MacPerson at CFRC in Kingston, ON.
Headlines:
The resignation of the Pickton inquiry lawyer, Robyn Gervais | Joel Barde, Vancouver, BC.
Anti-war and Peace Activists Take Action Against a Military Strike on Iran | Fraser MacPherson, CFRC, Kingston, ON
Touring Canada's Complicity in Torture
Submitted on March 12, 2012Caravan visits site in Toronto area to protest torture
On Thursday March 8th, a "Torture Tour" brought a roving protest of 50 people who traveled in Caravan to a variety of sites in the Toronto area that are complicit in torture.
Israel Terror Bombs Gaza
Submitted on March 11, 2012Gazan resistance groups launch Grad missiles, home-made rockets, and mortar shells in self-defense. Israel calls them "unprovoked" attacks. Palestinian freedom fighters vow to continue their liberating struggle. Under international law, it's their right, and for them a duty.
Call for Submissions: Challenging Convictions - Survivors of Sexual Assault/Domestic Violence Writing on Solidarity with Prison Abolition
Submitted on March 11, 2012The call for this anthology comes from frustration and hope: frustration with organizers against sexual assault and domestic violence who treat the police as a universally available and as a good solution and frustration with prison abolitionists who only use “domestic violence” and “rape” as provocative examples. But, this project also shares the hope and worth of working toward building communities without prisons and without sexual violence. Most importantly, it is anchored in the belief that resisting prisons, domestic violence, and sexual assault are inseparable.
Afghans Killed in Rampage by U.S. Soldier
Submitted on March 11, 201211 March 2012 - Al Jazeera
Sixteen Afghan civilians including three women and nine children have been shot dead in their homes by a rogue US soldier in a pre-dawn rampage..."The soldier went through three separate houses, shooting at people as they slept in their beds. After the soldier shot these people, he turned himself in."
Right-Wing on the Warpath in Spain
Submitted on March 11, 2012By Dick Nichols - Green Left Weekly
Since its November 20 election triumph, the administration of Spanish Popular Party (PP) Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy has launched such a blitzkrieg of neo-liberal policies, less democratic rights, state centralism and conservative social values that at times it seems as if the country has gone back 40 years in four weeks.
Halifax Rallies Against the Robocall Scandal
Submitted on March 11, 2012About 90 people gathered at Halifax Grand Parade on March 11th to protest the ongoing robocall scandal.
International Women's Day, Qalandia Checkpoint, West Bank [Video]
Submitted on March 11, 2012Israeli troops respond to International Women's Day demonstration at Qalandia checkpoint with water cannons, flash grenades and tear gas.
Egypt Has Good Reason Not to Trust U.S. "Pro-Democracy" Groups
Submitted on March 11, 2012By Stanley Meisler - March 07, 2012
...[P]erhaps we can examine what the U.S. was up to in Egypt using reason instead of patriotic emotion. The Egyptian furor over such seemingly idealistic work may strike us as wild and idiotic, but in fact, the Egyptians have a right to be suspicious. America's attempt to promote democracy around the world through private organizations has unsavory beginnings and a sometimes troubling history.
Is America on the Verge of Theocracy? 4 Fundamentalist Ideologies Threatening U.S. Liberty
Submitted on March 11, 2012By Henry A. Giroux - AlterNet
Americans seem confident in the mythical notion that the United States is a free nation dedicated to reproducing the principles of equality, justice and democracy. What has been ignored in this delusional view is the growing rise of an expanded national security state since 2001 and an attack on individual rights that suggests that the United States has more in common with authoritarian regimes like China and Iran "than anyone may like to admit."
The Dirty War on Wikileaks is Now Trial by Media in Sweden
Submitted on March 11, 2012By John Pilger - March 11, 2012
On bail for 16 months...[Assange] has been charged with nothing. His “crime” has been an epic form of investigative journalism: revealing to millions of people the lies and machinations of their politicians and officials and the barbarism of criminal war conducted in their name. For this...“dozens of members of the American media and public officials have called for [his] execution or assassination”. If he is passed from Sweden to the US, an orange jump suit, shackles and a fabricated unconstitutional indictment await him.
Innu Blockade of the 138 Moved by SQ
Submitted on March 11, 2012The blockade of highway 138 erected by members of the Innu community protesting against the construction of hydro transmission lines across ancestral lands was forcefully cleared from the roadway Friday night as 13 of the resisters were arrested. The blockade against the $6.5 billion La Romaine hydro project started last Monday.
PINAY - 20 Years of continued struggle and empowerment of Filipino women!
Submitted on March 10, 2012Evelyn Calugay - PINAY Chairperson
On Saturday, March 10, at the restaurant Ruby Rouge, was celebrated the 20th anniversary of the Fi
Over 10,000 Mentally Ill Michigan Inmates Face Tasers and Torture
Submitted on March 10, 2012By Debra Watson - WSWS
The recent authorization of the use of Tasers in Michigan prisons has focused attention on the inhuman conditions inflicted on mentally ill inmates. Civil rights organizations have questioned their use in the prison system, noting special danger to the large percentage of mentally ill inmates...There are at least one thousand prisoners in solitary in Michigan of whom a sizable percentage are diagnosed as mentally ill.
Police violence and retaliation in the context of the general student strike movement
Submitted on March 10, 2012From Contra Info
Israel's Ruthless Golani Brigade
Submitted on March 10, 2012The Golani Brigade is a ruthless killing machine. Palestinian journalist Kawther Salam called them "Israel's finest psychopaths," describing a lawless bunch of cutthroats.
"There Are Too Many Foreigners in France:" Sarkozy Vows to Cut Immigration and Limit Benefits for Migrants
Submitted on March 10, 2012By Angelique Chrisafis - The Guardian
Nicolas Sarkozy has declared there are too many foreigners in France, deliberately using extreme-right rhetoric to regain ground in his difficult re-election battle...Sarkozy, who lags behind the Socialist front-runner, François Hollande, is courting voters from Marine Le Pen's extreme-right Front National more than ever.
Support from Israel Lobby for Mulcair NDP Leadership Bid Raises Serious Concerns
Submitted on March 10, 2012By Independent Jewish Voices Canada - March 10, 2012
With voting underway to elect the new leader of Canada’s New Democratic Party and just two weeks until the leadership convention, Independent Jewish Voices Canada (IJV) has discovered information indicating that key players at the highest levels in Canada’s Israel Lobby are backing the candidacy of Thomas Mulcair...[T]he positions of leadership candidate Thomas Mulcair stand out as more closely aligned with those of Stephen Harper than with the NDP on the issue of the ongoing crisis in Israel/Palestine.
"Europe Is Not For Sale!"
Submitted on March 10, 2012By Collettivo Prezzemolo - March 10, 2012
German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble was treated to an indignant welcome today as he arrived at the European University Institute in Florence to give a lecture on Europe’s future. Organized through the Collettivo Prezzemolo, some 60 PhD researchers and university workers confronted Schäuble — one of the key architects of the punitive austerity measures being imposed on Portugal, Italy, Ireland, Greece and Spain — before, during and after his speech.
Has Machiavelli Met His Match?
Submitted on March 10, 2012By Kellie Tranter - Znet
It's most instructive to read carefully the Stratfor emails WikiLeaks released recently...Their language and tone are alarming: both brutal and ruthless, in my view they reflect all that is wrong with a world now programmed to a rampant neo-liberal economic model that is underpinned by Machiavelli's philosophy of power...Machiavelli's philosophy is now found in the boardroom as well as on the battlefield and in government.
Rush Limbaugh Is No Joke
Submitted on March 10, 2012By David Macaray - March 10th, 2012
It’s disappointing to hear people...dismiss Rush Limbaugh as simply a “clown,” or a “blowhard,” or “an idiot”...as if his 14-15 million reported regular listeners didn’t count for anything — as if they didn’t vote or make political contributions. Let’s not kid ourselves. Limbaugh’s audience doesn’t regard him as a joke. They regard him as a modern day prophet...The man has enormous influence.
Resisting Israeli Oppression Courageously
Submitted on March 10, 2012Israel spurns all international law abusively. Contemptuously, it treats Palestinians horrifically for praying to the wrong God and demanding freedom on their own land in their own country. As a result, they're called terrorists.
Unarmed Man Shot Dead in his Car by British Cops
Submitted on March 10, 2012By Trevor Johnson - 10 March 2012
In a shopping precinct car park, a man sits in a car. Suddenly, he finds his car blocked in by another vehicle. Rounds of fire from a shotgun disabled the car tires...CS gas canisters are set off both outside and inside the car. Then the man is shot and killed by gunmen wearing face-masks — a bullet through his heart fired from a Heckler and Koch MP5 submachine gun.
Boycott the Jim Pattison Group
Submitted on March 10, 201210 March 2012 - Canada-Palestine Association
Canada Palestine Association calls on all supporters of the Palestinian people's struggle to boycott Jim Pattison and his business empire...Pattison is a true representative of the 1% Canadian rich who are monopolizing wealth for their personal interests. He is also a reactionary Evangelical Christian Zionist...who has financially supported many right-wing projects, including...[the] “Israeli Roots Journey”. This project...has been referred to by some teachers in Israel as “incessant indoctrination”.
Anthems, Indoctrination and Violence
Submitted on March 10, 2012By Kim Petersen - Dissident Voice
Canada exists as a English-French state for much the same reason Israel exists as a Jewish state. Europeans came to take the land of Indigenous peoples — even by lethal force. In Palestine it was the Nakba, for “Canada” it was a genocidal event that included the wholesale extermination of the Beothuk.
Waging War on Truth
Submitted on March 9, 2012Major media scoundrel reports, commentaries, and editorials distort, misreport, censor, and suppress. The New Republic's (TNR) owner and former editor-in-chief Martin Peretz ranks with the worst. He's unabashedly pro-Israel, pro-war, and ideologically extreme on all issues mattering most. New York Magazine contributor Benjamin Wallace-Wells called him "a born belligerent (with) an extraordinary capacity for anger."
The Real Meaning Behind Rick Santorum's Anti-College Speech
Submitted on March 9, 2012By John Stoehr - 07 March 2012
College isn't for everyone, Santorum says. By itself, that statement isn't political...But when you flesh out the context - a wealthy candidate with an anti-college message speaking at a gathering paid for by billionaires with a long track record of union-busting - that statement takes on a sinister cast. Collective power is the only power available to many Americans without college degrees. What is this supposedly working-class candidate really saying?
A Putrid Misogyny
Submitted on March 9, 2012By GAIL DINES - Counterpunch Weekend Edition
Ever since Rush [Limbaugh] let out his true feelings about women as “sluts” and “prostitutes”...the media and blogosphere has been alive with discussions about the Republican “war on women”...Yes, there is a war on women, but is it is not just the Republicans who have been waging this...What gets less air time is the never-ending war that both Democrats and Republicans have been waging against women with policies that create an economic climate that makes women and children’s lives intolerable.
Documents Show Cozy Relationship Between Blackwater Mercenaries and Canadian Troops
Submitted on March 9, 2012Thursday, March 8, 2012 - Common Dreams
The Canadian military has had a close relationship for years with Xe Services, formerly known as Blackwater, and was paid $2.4 million to train Canadian soldiers in 2011..."The military has had a relationship with the security firm for years; the documents say 605 Canadian soldiers have received training at the company's North Carolina complex since 2006, as well as an unspecified number of special forces commandos."
Australian Labor Government Pledges Deep Cuts in Response to Slumping Economy
Submitted on March 9, 2012By Mike Head - WSWS
According to one estimate...the government will face a deficit this year approaching $50 billion...This inevitably means drastic reductions in social spending, services and public sector jobs, wages and conditions, on top of those inflicted in last year’s budget. That budget contained savings of $22 billion over four years, featuring cuts to welfare entitlements for the unemployed, disabled and single parents.
Let's Get Off the Fence and Tear Down the Wall: The BDS Movement, Fear and the Paralysis of "Neutrality"
Submitted on March 9, 2012By Sumud Lalawda - March 9, 2012
The search for middle ground in the face of injustice, inequality and oppression implies that sovereignty and basic human rights are debatable: a dangerous moral landscape that many are treading. This is not a matter of ideology, party affiliations, nor of varying degrees of radicalism. This is a matter of rights of the Palestinian people...In this realm, calls for neutrality and middle ground out of fear of demanding too much normalizes oppression...Along with Israel's image as the emblem of democracy, it's about time that the façade of neutrality and middle ground be done away with as well.
Entrevue avec Arthur Picard d'Innu Power sur l'opposition à Hydro-Québec et au Plan Nord
Submitted on March 9, 2012parce que malgré la répression de l'État colonial et de sa police sur la 138 et ailleurs, la lutte va continuer et s'intensifier
Responsibility to Protect or Justifying the Right to Project Power?
Submitted on March 9, 2012By William Bowles - March 07, 2012
Clearly the R2P doctrine is very selectively applied and applied by people and governments who are...themselves war criminals...As long as we are led to focus on a “medieval” Syria and its brutal Assad dynasty...the motives behind a rapacious imperial power’s real objectives in the world will forever remain hidden behind a facade of protecting with one hand and blowing people away with the other.
Pentagon Prepares War Plans for Syria
Submitted on March 9, 2012By Bill Van Auken - 9 March 2012
In testimony before a Senate committee Wednesday, the Pentagon’s civilian and uniformed chiefs confirmed that they are drawing up war plans against Syria at the request of the Obama White House...[Defense Secretary Leon Panetta] insisted that the Pentagon is “reviewing all possible additional steps that can be taken” to hasten the downfall of the Assad regime, “including potential military options if necessary.”
Australian Labor PM's Rise Marks the Triumph of Machine Politics Over Feminism
Submitted on March 9, 2012By John Pilger - March 09, 2012
That ["Labor" Prime Minister of Australia Julia] Gillard might be a nightmare to the Aboriginal women, men and children whom this quintessential machine politician has abused and blamed for their impoverishment, while implementing punitive and racist measures against their communities...is apparently not relevant. That Gillard might be a nightmare to refugees detained behind razor wire, children included...is of no interest.
London Cop Guilty of Assaulting 14 Year-Old
Submitted on March 9, 2012By Sandra Laville - The Guardian
The mother of a 14-year-old boy who was head-butted and assaulted by a [London] police constable said the officer should be kicked out of the force for attacking a child...She said when her son came home his lip was bleeding and he had a lump on his head from where he had been struck by the officer's head..."I thought he had been in a fight...When he said it was the police that had done it I just screamed. I couldn't believe it."
Immigration and the Harper Version of Multiculturalism
Submitted on March 9, 2012By Rick Salutin - rabble.ca
What helped cushion the damage lurking in the uncertainty among...earlier waves [of immigration]? Clearly it was family and community. But this is what Kenney's policies will undermine...Instead, who will those entrepreneurial professionals turn to? Their employers and the government so well-disposed toward them. As relatively isolated individuals, they'll have fewer ways to draw on their culture and thread it into their new nation's. But they may find time...to join their local Tory riding association...This is the Harper version of multiculturalism.
New York Cops Out of Control
Submitted on March 8, 2012By John Tarleton - The Indypendent
Gun-running, planting drugs, spying on whole communities, spewing racist epithets in on-line forums, pepper spraying protesters, roughing up City Council members, conducting stop-and-frisk searches at record rates and gunning down an unarmed teenager in his own home. That’s just some of what the [New York Police Department] has been up to recently.
Bahraini Kangaroo Court Trials
Submitted on March 8, 2012Sham trials are giving kangaroos a bad name.
A Spark in the Dark: The Earth Liberation Front (ELF) in Southern Ontario from 2005 to 2007
Submitted on March 8, 2012The Earth Liberation Front was founded in Brighton, England in 1992 and E.L.F. actions spread throughout England by 1994. By 2011 the E.L.F. had attacked developments in 17 countries with the majority of actions happening in North America. The main goal of the Earth Liberation Front actions was to do economic damage that would remove the profit motive from environmentally-destructive corporations.
Czech-Mate
Submitted on March 8, 2012Protest briefly occupies Q104 office, station refuses to drop "mail-order bride" contest
Halifax - A protest of about 25 people took place today, March 8th, International Women's Day, outside the Q104 fm station on 3770 Kempt Road, in Halifax, Nova Scotia.
Libya Autonomy Declaration Poses Threat of Civil War
Submitted on March 8, 2012By Bill Van Auken - 8 March 2012
Following a declaration of autonomy by tribal and militia leaders in oil-rich eastern Libya, the head of the Tripoli-based National Transitional Council (NTC) has threatened the use of “force” to prevent the country’s partition along regional lines...Nearly five months after the lynch-mob murder of...Gaddafi, and NATO’s declaration of victory in its war for regime change, the confrontation between Tripoli and Benghazi, the eastern city where the autonomy decision was taken, raises the specter of civil war.
The Hacks of War: Iran and the Media
Submitted on March 8, 2012By DAVE LINDORFF - Counterpunch
It’s as though we were siting in Germany in 1938, reading articles in the local newspapers speculating about how Germany’s future attack on Poland would be conducted, or when and how the Blitzkrieg against the Low Countries would play out...What we are getting is not news. It is propaganda.
Latuff On the Big Screen in Halifax
Submitted on March 8, 2012World's most prolific political cartoonist speaks via Skype at Israeli Apartheid Week in Halifax
On Wednesday, March 7th, Carlos Latuff appeared via Skype at King's College. Latuff's presentation was part of the numerous activities taking place during Israeli Apartheid Week in Halifax.
"Left" Party in France Backs Imperialist War Plans in Syria
Submitted on March 8, 2012By Kumaran Ira - WSWS
France’s New Anti-Capitalist Party (NPA) is promoting plans for military intervention by the imperialist powers in Syria, on the spurious grounds of needing to “protect” civilians...Such positions brand the NPA as petty-bourgeois sycophants of imperialism. They are silent on who is fighting the Assad regime — armed groups led by the Muslim Brotherhood, CIA assets, Al Qaeda elements, and Syrian army deserters — to hide the central political issue: the imperialist drive to reconquer Syria, which the NPA supports.
Occupy Higher Education
Submitted on March 8, 2012By Eva Swidler - March 08, 2012
Granting diplomas will never challenge structural inequality and a class system, and the promotion of education as a solution to inequality absolves the policies which created those inequalities. Lost too, is the corollary observation that higher education serves as a gatekeeper for and marker of entry to the middle class, not as a creator of the middle class. Classes are created by politics and economics, not schools.
America: Land of the Poor
Submitted on March 8, 2012Americans have been impoverished to pay bankers and wage imperial wars.
Montreal Cops Injure Student With Stun Grenade During Education Protests
Submitted on March 8, 2012CBC News - March 8, 2012
Francis Grenier...told CBC News from his hospital bed that he doesn't know if he'll regain vision in his right eye...Grenier said he was in front of the Loto-Québec headquarters Wednesday afternoon playing the harmonica when an officer told him to leave...He said he was starting to leave the area when riot squad officers started launching stun grenades over the crowd. One grenade missed him, but a second detonated close to his face, he said.
Australia's Supreme Court Upholds Free Speech Ban on Aboriginal Leader
Submitted on March 8, 2012By Mike Head - 8 March 2012
Australia’s High Court last week dismissed a challenge by Palm Island Aboriginal leader Lex Wotton to parole conditions that ban him from speaking to the media or attending public meetings on the island without the permission of government officials...Wotton has been subjected to what amounts to political censorship since being released on parole in July 2010. He had received a six-year sentence in 2008 for participating in a “riot” on the island after the death in police custody of Cameron (‘Mulrinji’) Doomadgee in November 2004.
Robo-Calling Conservatives Have Lost People's Consent
Submitted on March 8, 2012By Geoff Olson - March 7, 2012
Each time this cabal screws around in the laboratory of democracy, they turn the Bunsen burner up another notch. And we, the sleepy amphibians in the pot, blithely paddle around as the mercury goes up. If there was ever a time to go “ribbet,” it’s now — before we start croaking.
War on Iran: Political Inconsistencies and Pressing Questions for Leftists
Submitted on March 8, 2012By Shadi Chaleshtoori - Znet
[An] understanding of imperialist violence should be a basis for an anti-imperialist and anti-war position that does not apologize for brutal state dictatorships, even if these dictatorships happen to agree with us in opposing imperialism. Instead, Leftists too often adopt a reactionary position rhetorically defending repressive and authoritarian regimes and claiming an anti-imperialist logic to do so.
The Occupation of Workplace Democracy: Challenges and solutions for a solidarity economy
Submitted on March 8, 2012Part two of an interview with Cheyenna Weber of SolidarityNYC
Read part one, Cooperating to Replace Capitalism.
In this, the second and concluding part of an email dialogue about the work of SolidarityNYC, Cheyenna Weber discusses the challenge of cooperative self-management in the context of social movements like Occupy Wall Street.
Safety First
Submitted on March 8, 2012Picket at Airport Hotel Construction Site Finds Safety Infractions
A construction site next door to the Halifax International Airport was picketed yesterday by the Atlantic Regional Council of Carpenter, Millwrights and Allied Workers. Close to 100 supporters, including representatives from unions around the province and beyond, were in attendance for the noontime picket and barbecue.
The New York Times and "Liberal" Warmongering Against Iran
Submitted on March 7, 2012By Bill Van Auken - 7 March 2012
The Times is reprising the role it played a decade ago in the run-up to the US war on Iraq, when it made the case for an “undeniable” threat posed by Baghdad’s “weapons of mass destruction,” which proved non-existent...The coverage by this “newspaper of record” set the tone for the entire US media, thereby saturating the American public with false propaganda and providing indispensable assistance to the Bush administration in launching a war based upon lies.
Greenwashing Sustainable Seafood
Submitted on March 7, 2012The environmental community rejects the sustainable certification of Nova Scotia longline caught swordfish
Sustainable seafood certification announces to consumers that the fish they are buying is caught using ecologically sound practices that ensure the conservation of affected species.
Imperial Rage for War
Submitted on March 7, 2012America ravages the world one country at a time or in multiples. Post-9/11 alone, millions died. Vast destruction was caused. Human misery caused is incalculable. Now Syria and Iran are targeted.
EU Austerity Madness
Submitted on March 7, 2012European Union economies are being wrecked to pay bankers.
Family Starves to Death in Japan
Submitted on March 7, 2012By John Wantanabe - WSWS
On February 20, three bodies were discovered by the police in an apartment in Saitama city, just north of Tokyo. They were believed to be an elderly couple in their 60s and their son in his 30s. Each had apparently died of starvation, two months earlier...There was no food or money in the apartment. Water bottles were found next to the three emaciated bodies, suggesting they survived only on water in their final days.
Case Against Teen Brutally Beaten by NYPD Dismissed: Cops Fabricated Charges to Cover Abuse
Submitted on March 7, 2012By Kristen Gwynne - AlterNet
Today at Bronx Criminal Court, prosecutors said they did not have enough evidence to prove that Jateik Reed, the nineteen-year-old whose brutal beating by the [New York Police Department] was caught on tape this January, was guilty of drug and assault charges...[T]he "bad arrest" is "indicative of thousands of arrests that are made in the black and Latino community in [New York City], and cities across the country, based on racial profiling."
Marching Toward Syria With Eyes Cast Towards Iran
Submitted on March 7, 2012By Ben Schreiner - Dissident Voice
...[T]he driving force behind...intense Western interest in Syria is Iran...[T]he ouster of Assad is not driven by some great humanitarian impulse, or “responsibility to protect.” Nor does the bloodletting and slaughter inside the country disturb U.S. elites...Rather, all the contrived moralizing is being utilized in an attempt to garner support for imposing Syrian “regime change,” which would deal a strategic defeat to Tehran...The Syrian people and their revolution are being cynically recruited as means to imperial ends...
Tax Relief and the Austerity Agenda
Submitted on March 7, 2012By Michael Laxer - rabble.ca
One has to hand it to the neo-liberal ideologues and the neo-conservative political movement in Canada; they have managed to get all political parties, the mainstream media and most of the population on board the "tax relief" train. To one degree or another, they kneel at the alter of this ultimate false god...And in the wake of round-after-round of federal and provincial income, sales and corporate tax cuts, the threat of severe austerity measures grows as each year passes.
Scoring for Information: Police Infiltration Tactics Viewed as a Violation of Women's Bodies and Rights
Submitted on March 7, 2012By Kelly Pflug-Back - The Dominion
For marginalized women whose communities have historically been harmed by governmental powers, the thought of having been intimate with someone who represents state authority is profoundly violating...“Sexual consent means being fully aware of the circumstances, being aware of everything that is necessary for your safety”...[U]ndercover agents strategically take advantage of characteristics that are traditionally stereotyped as being feminine, such as compassion, nurturing and emotional receptivity.
Imperial Death Mongers
Submitted on March 7, 2012By JOE GIAMBRONE - Counterpunch
We’ve had endless war as long as memory serves and now the big one: Iran and possibly World War 3...The Russians are not happy with the way US policy is unfolding, and it appears the roll-up in Iraq was simply to help prepare the US military for an assault on its neighbor Iran...Washington has also provoked the Chinese into shoveling $100Bn into upgrading their military this year. The “peace laureate” could feasibly end life on earth if this Iran assault escalates and explodes out of control.
Sharp Rise in Homelessness in UK
Submitted on March 7, 2012By Dennis Moore - WSWS
Homelessness has a catastrophic effect on health. Interim research findings carried out at Sheffield University for the UK homeless charity Crisis...found that homeless men are dying at an average age of 47 years old and women at 43 years. The average age of death in the general UK population stands at 77 years. The incidence of death because of infections and falls is increased and suicide is nine times more likely in someone who is homeless.
How Ayn Rand Became the New Right's Version of Marx
Submitted on March 7, 2012By George Monbiot - Znet
It has a fair claim to be the ugliest philosophy the postwar world has produced. Selfishness, it contends, is good, altruism evil, empathy and compassion are irrational and destructive. The poor deserve to die; the rich deserve unmediated power. It has already been tested, and has failed spectacularly and catastrophically. Yet the belief system constructed by Ayn Rand, who died 30 years ago today, has never been more popular or influential.
U.S. Mining Company Paid Paramilitaries to Kill Trade Unionists: Victim's Lawyer
Submitted on March 7, 2012By Seth Robbins - Monday, 05 March 2012
A former AUC [United Self Defense Forces of Colombia] paramilitary member will testify before a U.S. court that Alabama-based coal giant Drummond Ltd. ordered his group to kill union organizers at its mine in Colombia, the victims' defense said Monday...[Attorney Terry Collingsworth] said he would testify about how Drummond operatives directed the AUC to kill union leaders.
Policing Poverty in Victoria
Submitted on March 7, 2012By Gordon O'Connor - March 7, 2012
The study found that social profiling by the Victoria Police is resulting in disproportionate ticketing and frequent harassment of people who have experienced homelessness in the past two years...Ninety-one per cent of respondents had been approached by police at least once in the past year. Fifty two per cent reported having personal belongings such as photos, sleeping bags, money and identification cards seized...86 per cent reported witnessing incidents of unnecessary force, and 83 per cent witnessed police acting rude, uncivil, or using abusive language.
Pigs Harassed Family of Unarmed Youth Killed by NYPD
Submitted on March 6, 2012By Kristen Gwynne - March 6, 2012
...[T]he family of eighteen-year-old Ramarley Graham, who was unarmed when the [New York Police Department] shot him dead in his home last month, was previously harassed by the NYPD. Those close to the Grahams do not appear to believe the events are related, but see them as evidence of the widespread consequences aggressive policing wreaks on their communities...Taken together, one family's connection to multiple instances of police abuse paints a grim portrait of what it is like to be a young black youth living in the Bronx, constantly under the thumb of the cops.
Electoral Politics in America
Submitted on March 6, 2012America's electoral process is corrupted and broken.
Lakota Indians Block Keystone XL Pipeline Trucks in Six-Hour Standoff [Video]
Submitted on March 6, 2012By Jorge Rivas - Tuesday, March 6 2012
Five Lakotas on Pine Ridge Indian land in South Dakota were arrested Monday after attempting to block two tar sands pipeline trucks from entering their land. According to the Lakota activists, the six-hour standoff started when the trucks refused to turn around...["]We oppose the tar sands oil mine in solidarity with Mother Earth and our First Nation allies."
U.S. Attorney General Defends Presidential Assassinations of American Citizens
Submitted on March 6, 2012By Tom Eley and Barry Grey - WSWS
In a speech delivered Monday...US Attorney General Eric Holder asserted the “right” of the president to secretly order the assassination of US citizens. Laying out a brief for virtually unchecked executive power to carry out military aggression abroad and repression at home, the speech was a sweeping attack on fundamental democratic and constitutional principles...[T]he so-called global war on terror is a phony war, conjured up to provide an overarching political framework for a turn by the United States to unbridled militarism abroad and police-state measures domestically.
How to Fund an American Police State
Submitted on March 6, 2012By Stephan Salisbury - March 05, 2012
At the height of the Occupy Wall Street evictions, it seemed as though some diminutive version of “shock and awe” had stumbled from Baghdad, Iraq, to Oakland, California. American police forces had been “militarized,” many commentators worried, as though the firepower and callous tactics on display were anomalies, surprises bursting upon us from nowhere...There should have been no surprise...The truth is that virtually the entire apparatus of government has been mobilized and militarized right down to the university campus.
Canucks arena workers fight for concessions
Submitted on March 6, 2012VANCOUVER - The workers who staff the concessions at the Rogers Arena took to the street tonight. They were outside the rink before tonight`s Vancouver Canucks game demanding respect from employer Aramark. They say they are fighting for better working conditions and better customer service. The workers represent cashiers, cooks, caterers, bartenders and others at the arena.
Bus Riders Make Video in Support of Transit Workers
Submitted on March 6, 2012Social media was abuzz yesterday with criticism of striking transit workers' decision to block snowplows for 10 minutes. But some HRM residents instead went to the picket lines and made this video in an attempt to show support for the Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU) Local 508, on strike since Feb. 2.
NOII Alert: Axe the Refugee Exclusion Act!
Submitted on March 6, 2012March 5th, 2012 - No One Is Illegal-Coast Salish Territories Vancouver
Last week Minister of Censorship and Deportation Jason Kenney tabled Bill C-31, an omnibus Refugee Exclusion Act. This Act is racist. It creates a two-tier system of refugee protection, increases incarceration, denies and revokes legal status, and violently targets and expels refugees and migrants from Canada...The Conservatives are perfecting a system of containment and commodification of migrants through racist fear-mongering parroted by the corporate media, and repressive policies of exclusion through enhanced border militarization.
Discussing the Dalhousie Strike
Submitted on March 6, 2012Strike is a symptom of corporatization of education, say students and faculty
With members of the Dalhousie Faculty Association voting 83% in favour of a strike last month, professors are set to walk off the job on March 12th. Asaf Rashid spoke to Drs. Marjorie Stone and Isaac Saney from the Dalhousie Faculty Association, and Aaron Beale, a student, about their views on the strike.
Hana Shalabi: Day 19 and Counting
Submitted on March 6, 2012Without food for 66 days, Khader Adnan nearly died. Again ingesting food, he's still very much at risk. Hana Shalabi reached day 19. It's taken a toll. Daily she grows weaker.
Canada's Crappy Crime Bill, Crazy Weather in U.S., Black Libyans Force-Fed Flags [Video]
Submitted on March 6, 2012Potent News
March 4, 2012
From Halifax, Canada, Amir Alwani brings you the latest Potent News Blast:
--> Canada’s Crappy Crime Bill
--> Crazy Weather in US
--> Black Libyans Force-Fed Flags
Arming of Syria’s Opposition Stepped Up as Demand for Safe Havens Grows
Submitted on March 6, 2012By Chris Marsden - 6 March 2012
The Gulf States have now declared arming the Syrian opposition their policy, after months of doing so covertly...Last Thursday, Qatar’s Prime Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim Al-Thani announced that the Qatari monarchy would now “do whatever necessary to help them, including giving them weapons to defend themselves.” This was followed by an announcement that Libya was making $100 million available to the opposition, money clearly funneled from Qatar.
KI First Nation mobilizes to block Mining on their sacred land
Submitted on March 6, 2012On March 6th over 120 people gathered to protest mining on the sacred lands of the Kitchenuhmaykoosib Inninuwug (KI) First Nation. They held a boisterous rally across the street from the Metro Toronto Convention Centre, which is hosting the words largest mining industry convention.
The NFL, Bounties and the Drive to Hide the Violence
Submitted on March 6, 2012By Dave Zirin - March 5, 2012
This is an inherently dirty game with a real body count. Its main business isn’t a race to the Super Bowl but to present raw violence in a way that’s palatable for mass consumption. The more comfortable we are with violence, the more successful the [National Football League] becomes...The tragedy is that often its only after players retire that they see the reality of an unequal partnership where only one side really walks away from the table.
C-10 Passes in the Senate: Why the Conservatives' Crime Bill is Wrong for Canada
Submitted on March 6, 2012By Sheryl Jarvis - March 6, 2012
Despite how widespread the resistance to Bill C-10 has been, it has thus far been futile. It seems that there is no bridging the gap between conservative ideology and the truth behind the causes of community harm. The causes...are poverty, unemployment, inequality and trauma...Precisely because Bill C-10 ignores evidence and human rights, all manner of people have resisted it...who recognize the hyperbole around the conservative law and order agenda for what it is -- partisan ideology, greed and fear.
KI Film, Event and Protest
Submitted on March 6, 2012On March 5th a large crowd gathered at Steel Workers Hall in Toronto to watch the release of a new film on from Kitchenuhmaykoosib Inninuwug (KI) First Nations looking at their struggle to protect their lands. Entitled Kanawayandan D'aaki - Protecting Our Land. The film was followed by a panel of leaders from KI speaking in Anishanbek and English.
Palestinian Oppression: Official Israeli Policy
Submitted on March 5, 2012Born in blood, Israel's been drenched in it since. Its agenda reflects racist state terror ruthlessness.
Khamenei Supporters Win in Iran Legislative Elections
Submitted on March 5, 2012By Niall Green - 5 March 2012
Supporters of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad suffered a major defeat in Friday’s election to Iran’s 290-member parliament. Candidates more closely aligned to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei...benefited from the decline in support for the president...While the dispute has taken the appearance of a personal power struggle within the Iranian elite, the fight between Khamenei and Ahmadinejad expresses more fundamental conflicts over how to deal with the growing threat of an attack on the country by the United States and its allies in the Middle East, especially Israel.
"End the Czech" Protest Stirs the Conversation
Submitted on March 5, 2012This blog post will attempt to summarize the campaign against the q104 contest in what has been a whirl of three weeks. I believe that this protest is another way to structure an argument against the deplorable conditions that exist in Canada today when it comes to sexism, media mis-education and a culture that
The Obama-Netanyahu Encounter: Who Controls Whom?
Submitted on March 5, 2012By Gary Leupp - Dissident Voice
The Bomb Iran advocates are not interested in diplomacy. They see it as a threat to their objective of regime change...The vicious illogic surrounding this issue is frightening. You’d think that [the]...supporter[s] of the Iraq invasion, would be so discredited at this point that they’d slink off the stage in shame. But no, they continue to traffic in lies, hell-bent on transforming the Middle East to the advantage of Israel.
Cool Off
Submitted on March 5, 2012Bahamian Minister of Labour Meets With CEWU and Sarah MacDonald of Emera-GBPC. Two weeks countdown to strike date.
The Bahamian Minister of Labour, in an attempt to avert a strike situation by the Commonwealth Electrical Workers Union, has met with representatives from the CEWU, as well as President and CEO of the Grand Bahamas Power Company, Nova Scotia's own Sarah MacDonald.
Obama Hardens Threat of War Against Iran
Submitted on March 5, 2012By Peter Symonds - 5 March 2012
Obama spelled out the meaning of his oft-repeated phrase that “all options are on the table” in relation to Iran. “That includes all elements of American power...a political effort aimed at isolating Iran, a diplomatic effort to sustain our coalition and ensure that the Iranian program is monitored, an economic effort that imposes crippling sanctions and, yes, a military effort to be prepared for any contingency...Rest assured that the Iranian government will know of our resolve.”
Criminal Pardons More Expensive, Now Taking Longer
Submitted on March 5, 2012March 5, 2012 - CBC News
Canadians seeking a criminal record suspension under a new, more expensive pardon system could wait two years or more for their application to be processed -- only to find out they've been rejected...The sum total of all the changes to the pardon system mean that someone convicted of an indictable offence may have to wait 12 years or more -- after their sentence is completed -- to find out whether they've been accepted for a criminal record suspension.
From Tel Aviv to Ottawa: Blockading Boats and Ballots
Submitted on March 5, 2012By David Heap and Ehab Lotayef - rabble.ca
Canadians are collectively waking up to the fact that we faced an illegal blockade at the ballot box in dozens of ridings last May, which may have led to a stolen election. Meanwhile, Palestinians face illegal blockades and checkpoints every day, which steal their freedom of movement, preventing them from entering or leaving Gaza and impeding travel through the West Bank. As Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu touches down in Ottawa, the world is waking up to the complicity of the Canadian government in Israel’s violations of international law.
NGOs team up with Canadian mining compaines
Submitted on March 5, 2012Recently three leading Canadian NGOs have partnered with three leading Canadian mining companies. This partnership has drawn criticism for it's closed nature and lack of real oversight of mining companies. Gwen Schulman co-authored the article that broke the story at the Media Co-op. Gwen breaks down the deal and the implications of the partnership.
Targeting Free Expression
Submitted on March 4, 2012Will sweeping anti-OWS crackdowns follow under HR 347 and other measures entirely destroying inviolable constitutional rights cast aside to enforce tyranny? Only the fullness of time will tell, but don't bet against it.
Prospects for May Palestinian Elections
Submitted on March 4, 2012Last December, Fatah and Hamas agreed on forming a unity government and holding May presidential, parliamentary, and Palestinian National Council (PLC) elections.
The Tories' Dirty Tricks Catalogue
Submitted on March 4, 2012By Lawrence Martin - 29 Feb 2012
The Conservatives have been caught up in many shady activities since coming to power. The revelation that they may have been behind a robocall operation to suppress voting for opposition parties would rank...among the more serious offences...There follows a list -- is Harperland becoming Nixonland? -- of dirty tricks, black ops and hardball tactics from the Conservatives' years in power.
Shedding Light on Labour Disputes
Submitted on March 4, 2012St. Mary's profs look for ways to inform public on labour-management disputes
Health care workers, university professors, water commission workers, beer bottlers, and of course, bus drivers: these are just some of those recently or currently embroiled in contract negotiations in Nova Scotia.
Des crimes et des prisons: Criminalisation de la pauvreté, profilage
Submitted on March 4, 2012Panel du Marathon des sans abris
Les prisons servent à cacher ce qu'on ne veut pas voir, on y envoit collectivement des milliers d'individus parfois pour les punir d'autres fois pour les aider ou leur apprendre quelques choses. Qu'en est il vraiment du système carcérale, pourquoi pauvre, autochtone et personne racialisée y sont elles sur représentées ?
Keeping Your Job While Under Fire: An Account of Attempts to Discipline a Union Organizer
Submitted on March 4, 2012March 3, 2012 - Libcom
I have been publicly organizing at Starbucks for nearly five years. The fact that I have managed to stay employed is no small feat. Since our 13-month trial against the company, Starbucks has been especially careful to fire outspoken unionists via policy violations, set ups, and pushing us to either quit in a fiery rage or go off and be fired for losing composure.
America's Death Squads
Submitted on March 4, 2012By Nicolas J.S. Davies - Z Magazine
Barack Obama has halted the macabre parade of hooded, shackled suspects in orange jumpsuits stumbling off American planes into the tropical sunshine at Guantanamo, but he has not done so by restoring the rule of law. Instead...he has replaced Bush’s policy with a global campaign to simply kill a wide range of people in cold blood...[K]illing suspects instead of capturing them is a convenient way to avoid the embarrassment of sweeping up hundreds of mostly innocent people in an indiscriminate global dragnet and then not knowing what to do with them. The dead tell no tales.
Hillary Clinton and Middle East War Crimes
Submitted on March 4, 2012By Bill Van Auken - 3 March 2012
Why is it that the actions of the Assad regime in Homs are declared to “fit the category” of war crimes, while the far bloodier actions carried out by the US military in Fallujah and countless other atrocities committed under both the Bush and Obama administrations in unprovoked wars against the peoples of Iraq and Afghanistan are deemed justifiable measures in a “war on terror,” for which no one has ever been held accountable?
Recognizing Our Interests: A Wider Perspective on the HRM Transit Strike
Submitted on March 4, 2012A History of Violence: How the U.S. Culture of Fear is Compromising America's Schools
Submitted on March 4, 2012By Daniel Dyer - February 29, 2012
Some of my earliest school memories are scarlet with fear. I was not a big child...The boy in fifth grade who kept hitting me on the legs with a stick until I had to fight or run; I fought and lost and wept. The high school boy...who would routinely wipe his feet on my white shoes...I could do nothing...And, of course, I was no saint, either. I remember with great regret and horror the things I said and did to classmates farther down the totem pole of fear than I.
The Extremist Drift of a Dysfunctional Party: The Republican War on Everyone
Submitted on March 4, 2012By Anthony Dimaggio - Znet Commentary
The remaining Republican candidates are gearing up for the March 6th Super Tuesday primary elections...[I]t’s worth reflecting on just how reactionary this bunch of misfits has become, and what’s at stake as their proposals are taken seriously by the American public...A review of their statements is enlightening – and disturbing.
Lies, Damn Lies and Major Media Scoundrel Journalism
Submitted on March 4, 2012Major media print and broadcast journalism fails on all counts. They serve wealth and power. They feature managed and junk food news. They exclude truth and full disclosure. Readers, viewers, and listeners are cheated by lies, damn lies, and an agenda harming their vital interests.
The Truth About Drug-Testing the Unemployed
Submitted on March 3, 2012By Steven Wishnia - AlterNet
The primary argument for drug-testing the unemployed is that taxpayers’ money shouldn’t go to buy drugs. Opponents see more sinister stereotyping at work. A National Employment Law Project legislative update in January denounced the testing proposal as inspired by “baseless characterizations of the unemployed as lazy, drug-abusing, and stupid”...“Congressional Republicans have been more eager to blame the unemployed for unemployment than to put forth a proactive jobs agenda that will put people back to work...”
New York Times Promoting War on Iran
Submitted on March 3, 2012Longstanding Times policy supports imperial US wars against nonbelligerent countries posing no threats. It backed American-led NATO aggression against Afghanistan, Iraq, and Libya. Using scandalous language like "Assad's butchery," it wants Syrian killer gangs armed and greater Western intervention.
Eco-Terrorists and Pedophiles: Welcome to the New Canada!
Submitted on March 3, 2012By Tariq Jeeroburkhan - rabble.ca
According to our Conservative Government, members of other Canadian political parties are pedophiles and environmentalists and terrorists...welcome to the new Canada...Unfortunately, environmentalists were not the only "trouble-makers" to make the government's hit-list this week -- in a stubborn assessment of the government's on-line privacy bill, the minister referred to anyone who would not support the government legislation as having ties to child abuse.
Veterans for Peace Supports Occupy Oakland
Submitted on March 3, 2012By Veterans for Peace Chapter 162 - March 3rd, 2012
The members of Veterans for Peace...have been watching the increasing repression against the Occupy Movement here...which has included repeated use of chemical agents, concussion grenades, and other “less lethal” weapons, as well as beatings. Several persons, including military veterans, have been seriously injured by the police.
U.S. Congress Passes Authoritarian Anti-Protest Law
Submitted on March 3, 2012By Tom Carter - 3 March 2012
A bill passed Monday in the US House of Representatives and Thursday in the Senate would make it a felony...to participate in many forms of protest associated with the Occupy Wall Street protests of last year. Several commentators have dubbed it the “anti-Occupy” law, but its implications are far broader...[The] “Federal Restricted Buildings and Grounds Improvement Act of 2011”...was passed by unanimous consent in the Senate, while only Ron Paul and two other Republicans voted against the bill in the House of Representatives...Not a single Democratic politician voted against the bill.
Syria and Yemen Uprisings Yield Different Western Responses
Submitted on March 3, 2012By Tony Iltis - Sunday, February 26, 2012
The US response to the uprisings in the Arab world remains deeply hypocritical...Syria is not the only Arab country where the government has been confronted with non-violent protests, as well as armed opposition, and responded with military force against both. Another is Yemen...Like in Syria, but considerably less reported, the conflict between the government and opposition has cost thousands of lives.
Anti-Workfare Campaigners Score Victory in UK
Submitted on March 3, 2012SchNEWS - 1st March 2012 | Issue 808
A major victory has been scored against WorkFare - the Tory's flagship forced labour programme...A spectacularly harsh programme, not even terminal illness is considered a barrier from involuntary, unpaid work at such esteemed establishments as Poundland, Superdrug and Sainsburys – terminal cancer patients with more than 6 months to live could be expected to spend their remaining months, not with family and loved ones, but instead stacking shelves or flipping burgers.
Gentrification Storm Warning!
Submitted on March 3, 2012This poster image was originally posted on the DNC homepage.
Click here to download the full sized version of the poster.
Finkelstein, BDS and the Destruction of Israel
Submitted on March 3, 2012By Ali Abunimah - 28 February 2012
In a recent and highly controversial interview, Norman Finkelstein...turned his guns on Palestinians and their supporters. He accused the boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement of being a "cult", and claimed that its achievements were mostly exaggerated...But what exercised Finkelstein most was his conclusion that if implemented, the demands of the 2005 Palestinian civil society call for BDS, would amount to "the destruction of Israel".
Free Market Health Care: True Stories
Submitted on March 3, 2012By Michael Parenti - March 03, 2012
I recently wrote an article about my personal experiences in dealing with the medical system while undergoing surgery...In response, a number of readers sent me accounts of their own experiences trying to get well in America...None of the people who wrote to me had anything positive to say about the U.S. health system. Below are some of the responses to my article.
Will the Woody Guthrie Museum in Oklahoma Distort the Folksinger's Views?
Submitted on March 3, 2012By Tom Hall - WSWS
Late last year, the George Kaiser Foundation purchased materials from the family of Woody Guthrie (1912-1967) with the intention of opening a museum dedicated to the singer-songwriter in Tulsa, Oklahama. The museum is projected to open some time around July 14, the 100th anniversary of Guthrie’s birth...There are indications that those involved with the museum are seeking to minimize or distort Guthrie’s political views, including his involvement with the Communist Party.
Why Is Christy Clark Beating Up British Columbia Teachers?
Submitted on March 3, 2012By Jim Quail - March 3, 2012
So you want to know why the B.C. government is bludgeoning teachers? They desperately need to stake out territory well toward the right end of their internal spectrum: that or perish. The general public may be appalled at the government’s overkill bullying...but it is calculated to soften the misgivings of her vital conservative fringe.
Justice on Trial: Lynne Stewart's Appeal
Submitted on March 2, 2012Lynne's incarceration was a gross miscarriage of justice.
Are Your Sleeping Pills Doing More Harm Than Good?
Submitted on March 2, 2012By Martha Rosenberg - February 28, 2012
Drugs like Ambien, Lunesta and Sonata, older drugs like Valium and barbiturates and even sedative antihistamines all correlate with a three fold increase in the hazard of death say researchers in this week’s British Medical Journal...Sleeping pills have never been Big Pharma’s finest hour.
Hana Shalabi: Hunger Striking for Justice
Submitted on March 2, 2012Israel administratively detains hundreds of Palestinians indefinitely without charge lawlessly. Like thousands of others incarcerated, their "crime" is wanting to live free on their own land in their own country. Israel calls it terrorism. Hana Yahya Shalabi is one of many abused.
The FBI's Misadventures in New Zealand
Submitted on March 2, 2012By Stuart Jeanne Bramhall - March 2nd, 2012
There is growing suspicion in New Zealand that this country...has become an American colony. Sadly, the unfolding Kim Dotcom saga seems to confirm this. On January 20th, a New Zealand assault team consisting of helicopters and special defense forces and police armed with automatic weapons invaded the private Auckland home of Mega Upload founder and CEO Kim Dotcom. The reason for Dotcom’s arrest?...[A]n FBI extradition order for Internet piracy.
Washington Pushes Drug War in Mexico and Central America
Submitted on March 2, 2012By Bill Van Auken - 29 February 2012
Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano signaled this week that Washington is prepared to utilize the same bloody counter-insurgency methods in Mexico and Central America that it has employed in the so-called “war on terror”...Napolitano is conducting a...five-nation tour through Mexico and Central America with the key purpose of pushing for an escalation of the so-called “war on drugs” — through which Washington seeks to defend its hegemony in the region and tighten links between the Pentagon and local security forces.
Bored But Not Broken: The Many Faces of Vanier
Submitted on March 2, 2012By Mandy Hiscocks - March 2, 2012
A few weeks ago I wrote about the overly scheduled and tedious days here. For the most part every day is the same, but every so often little things happen. This post is a look at the more random events of the past few days - the good, the weird, the completely fucked up. Behold the many faces of Vanier!
High school students set for 'class' war
Submitted on March 2, 2012VANCOUVER - More than 1,500 high school students braved the rain today to support their teachers. The students rallied outside Christie Clark's office and the Vancouver Art Gallery to back teacher demands for a fair contract from the provincial government.
Occupy the Justice Deptartment for Mumia Abu-Jamal and All Political Prisoners (April 24)
Submitted on March 2, 2012Mumia Abu-Jamal is back with his unstoppable commitment to writing and recording his commentaries with Prison Radio. New photos of Mumia – the first taken since 1996 – show that the injustice leveled against him has not diminished his love, courage, and strength. The next big action will be Occupy the Justice Department in Washington, D.C. on April 24, Mumia’s birthday. Free Mumia and ALL political prisoners!
We've Been There, Halifax: Reflections on the 2008-09 Ottawa Transit Strike
Submitted on March 2, 2012Canada Supports Dark Side of International Finance
Submitted on March 2, 2012By Murray Dobbin - February 27, 2012
You can say one thing for the powers that be in the banking industry. They've got a lot of nerve...This past week, our own finance minister, Jim Flaherty, along with Mark Carney, the Governor of the Bank of Canada, came out strongly in opposition to a modest proposal to regulate the U.S. banking system...Their interventions followed a concerted effort by American bank lobbyists to spark international opposition to U.S. regulatory reforms.
Chilliwack Students Walk Out in Support of BC Teachers and Public Education
Submitted on March 2, 2012CHILLIWACK - On a cold and rainy afternoon, Sardis Secondary students walked out of their classrooms, and took to the sidewalks of the unremitting Vedder Road to show their support for BC teachers and public education. Starting at noon, students from ages fifteen to eighteen held signs, painted their bodies, and raised their fists as passing vehicles blasted their horns in solidarity.
Afghan Troops Kill Two More U.S. Soldiers in Kandahar
Submitted on March 2, 2012By Patrick Martin - 2 March 2012
Two more US soldiers were shot to death in Afghanistan Thursday by Afghan soldiers and an Afghan civilian instructor, the third such incident in the past ten days, since the burning of Korans at the main US airbase at Bagram touched off a wave of rebellion throughout the country...Afghan troops have killed a total of 12 US military personnel since the beginning of this year, including the six this week.
Canada's Defrocked Prince of Peace
Submitted on March 2, 2012By Kim Petersen - Dissident Voice
Lester Pearson enjoys iconic status in Canada as a former prime minister, Nobel Peace Prize winner, and particular acclaim as the father of peacekeeping. The Nobel Prize site notes “his diplomatic sensitivity, his political acumen, and his personal popularity.” The myth of Pearson is so ingrained that most Canadians have bought into it...Noam Chomsky, however, considers Pearson a “major criminal, really extreme.”
IBM at Auschwitz
Submitted on March 2, 2012By Edwin Black - Znet
Newly-released documents expose more explicitly the details of IBM's pivotal role in the Holocaust - all six phases: identification, expulsion from society, confiscation, ghettoization, deportation, and even extermination. Moreover, the documents portray with crystal clarity the personal involvement and micro-management of IBM president Thomas J. Watson in the company's co-planning and co-organizing of Hitler's campaign to destroy the Jews.
Canadian Asbestos Poses a Health Risk in Vietnam
Submitted on March 2, 2012March 2, 2012 - CBC News
Many workers in Vietnam will "suffer debilitating diseases" over the coming decades from handling asbestos — some of which is imported from Canada, a U.S. diplomatic cable released by WikiLeaks says...Canada is cited as one of the major exporters of asbestos...to Vietnam, which has increasingly turned to the material for use in low-cost roofing material...Vietnam is described as having one of the world's highest per-capita consumption rates of asbestos.
CKUT radio: Gitz Crazyboy indigenous critique on tar sands
Submitted on March 2, 2012interview with youth activist Gitz Crazyboy from Fort Chipewyan
Listen to an interview with Gitz Crazyboy, indigenous youth activist from from the Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation, speaking in Montreal. This interview details the environmental impacts of the Alberta tar sands on surrounding ecosystems and water ways like the Athabasca River.
Homeless youth in Nelson BC have NO BEDS
Submitted on March 1, 2012A five minute piece I recently put together for a national co-op radio homelessness marathon about the lack of beds for youth in Nelson BC. Featuring an interview with Katie Tabor, community coordinator for the Nelson comittee on homelessness.
Daily Israeli State Terror
Submitted on March 1, 2012Major media scoundrels suppress reports about daily Israeli state terror. Most Americans, and many others, can't imagine what Palestinians endure.
Readying the Greek Corpse for Burial
Submitted on March 1, 2012Greece is being systematically raped, pillaged and destroyed. Bankers demand it. What they want, they get, no matter the human toll and economic ruin.
Scandal Highlights Looting of UK Social Spending by Private Companies
Submitted on March 1, 2012By Julie Hyland - WSWS
The scandal surrounding the welfare-to-work firm A4e (Action for Employment) has again exposed how large swathes of public funds have been handed over to private corporations, under both Labour and the Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition...[T]he company has been investigated nine times by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) since 2005, and forced to repay public funds on five occasions due to “irregularities”.
Thousands to March in Quebec City as Strike Movement Nears 100,000
Submitted on March 1, 2012By Tim McSorley - Coop Média de Montréal
As thousands of students prepare to demonstrate in Quebec City this afternoon, the strike against tuition fee increases continues to grow: As of today, 84,500 students are officially on strike, with another 16,000 or so having voted in favor of a strike mandate, but not officially going on strike. This means the total could soon reach the 100,000 student mark, with some of the largest student associations in the province still to hold votes in the coming weeks.
Israel's Chutzpah: Using a Black Icon to Sell Apartheid
Submitted on March 1, 2012By SHERRY WOLF - Counterpunch
It appears that defending ethnic cleansing and Israel’s genocidal policies in the wake of Occupy and democratic Arab upheavals is not the cakewalk it once was. The question of justice for the world’s 11.2 million Palestinian people...is no longer the third rail of American politics among a growing swath of the population...That some apologists have turned to fabricated quotes and pure slander of an icon to justify the unjustifiable is yet another sign that leading Zionists are desperate liars.
Tuition Hikes and Student Strikes
Submitted on March 1, 2012The story of student activism is inextricably intertwined with the story of tuition fees in Quebec, and, therefore, with tuition hikes. This is a brief summary of the recent student protests leading up the current strike and their consequences.
OPEN LETTER: The Institut du Nouveau Monde and Minalliance: A Disingenuous Alliance
Submitted on March 1, 2012Public consultations about Quebec's mining future... funded entirely by Minalliance.
There are times when credulousness becomes guilty and there are times when false pretense looses its ability to convince.
Further Evidence of Secret U.S. Indictment of Julian Assange
Submitted on March 1, 2012By Mike Head - 1 March 2012
Internal emails obtained from the US private intelligence firm Stratfor indicate that the Obama administration has had a secret indictment against WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange for more than 12 months. The emails, published by WikiLeaks this week, also point to the close involvement of the Australian Labor government and intelligence agencies in the operation against Assange, an Australian citizen.
LETTRE OUVERTE - Minalliance et l’Institut du Nouveau Monde: une collaboration de mauvais aloi
Submitted on March 1, 2012Il est des moments où la naïveté devient coupable, il est des moments où les fausses prétentions ne convainquent plus.
Thousands to march in Quebec City as strike movement nears 100,000
Submitted on March 1, 2012Momentum gaining at English schools, amid possible admin foul play
As thousands of students prepare to demonstrate in Quebec City this afternoon, the strike against tuition fee increases continues to grow: As of today, 84,500 students are officially on strike,
Three Undocumented Youth Arrested Confronting Anti-Immigrant Committee in North Carolina Legislature
Submitted on March 1, 2012February 29, 2012 - NC Dream Team
Uriel Alberto, Estephania Mijangos and Cynthia Martinez have been arrested after challenging the Select Committee on the State’s Role in Immigration Policy. They publicly declared themselves undocumented in the overwhelmingly anti-immigrant leaning committee hearing...["]I am undocumented, unafraid, and unashamed! I refuse to be bullied and intimidated by this committee and choose to empower my community.”
Canadian Asbestos Poses a Health Risk in Vietnam
Submitted on March 1, 2012March 2, 2012 - CBC News
Many workers in Vietnam will "suffer debilitating diseases" over the coming decades from handling asbestos — some of which is imported from Canada, a U.S. diplomatic cable released by WikiLeaks says...Canada is cited as one of the major exporters of asbestos...to Vietnam, which has increasingly turned to the material for use in low-cost roofing material...Vietnam is described as having one of the world's highest per-capita consumption rates of asbestos.
Fadi Quran Victimized by Israeli State Terror
Submitted on March 1, 2012On February 25, internationals and supportive Israelis joined 500 Palestinians protesting in Hebron's Old City. Youths Against Settlements organized it. As they approached the street, soldiers attacked them violently with tear gas, sound bombs, and rubber bullets. Ten were arrested, including a Palestinian journalist and Quran.
Cooperating to Replace Capitalism
Submitted on March 1, 2012Part one of an interview with Cheyenna Weber of SolidarityNYC
SolidarityNYC is a New York City-based group which works to create links between social movements and the "solidarity economy." The latter consists of cooperatives, small businesses, non-profits and other economic activities which "reinforce values of justice, ecological sustainability, cooperation, and democracy." The group aims to promote the solidarity economy as an alter
UK Labor Leader Threatens Strikes During the London Olympics
Submitted on February 29, 2012By Dave Zirin - February 29, 2012
If you were part of the 99 percent in the United Kingdom, you’d be forgiven for being somewhat befuddled at the moment. Deep spending cuts, austerity and privatization plans are the political agenda in Parliament, yet the country also is preparing full-blast for a little trifle called the Olympic Games...In addition, there will be at least 13,500 British troops in the UK for the Olympics, more than are stationed in Afghanistan...Welcome to “conservative” governance in the twenty-first century: a militarized, budget busting, carnival of neo-liberalism disguised as sport.
U.S. Downplays North Korean Regime’s Overtures
Submitted on February 29, 2012By James Cogan - WSWS
Pyongyang expressed its frustration at the recent inconclusive talks, issuing stronger than usual denunciations of annual military exercises by South Korean and American forces...A North Korean military statement denounced the exercises as a “silent declaration of war”. The official news agency labeled them an “unpardonable infringement” upon the country’s sovereignty and said North Korea was “fully ready to fight a war”. Kim Jong-un was cited as calling for “powerful retaliatory strikes” if South Korean or American ships entered waters claimed by North Korea.
The War on Labor: Right to Work
Submitted on February 29, 2012By Jack Random - February 23rd, 2012
Adopted in twenty-three states, right-to-work laws effectively ban labor unions by prohibiting workers from gaining union representation by a majority vote. The Right to Work is the right of a worker to refuse to pay union dues. Because unions gain power by representing workers as a united front in negotiations with management, right-to-work laws negate that power.
Strike Vote at Emera-Owned Grand Bahama Power
Submitted on February 29, 2012Yesterday an island-wide blackout. Today 88 of 89 vote to strike
It would appear as though there is significant upheaval occurring on the island of Grand Bahama, and once again, Emera, the Nova Scotia-based power company, is in the thick of it.
Soirée de dévoilement à Pointe St-Charles autour du collectif 7 à nous et du centre social autogéré
Submitted on February 29, 2012Le collectif 7 à nous est composé d'Action-Gardien, de Quartier Éphémère/Fonderie Darling, du Centre social autogéré, du Club populaire des consommateurs, de l'architecte Mark Poddubiuk, de citoyen.nes et est accompagné du RÉSO.
Pour plus d'information sur le projet du bâtiment 7 à nous : ateliers7anous.org
A Brief History of Quebec Student Strikes
Submitted on February 29, 2012Wondering about the history of student strikes in Quebec? While there's been a lot said in French, it's great to see this video in English explaining the history and impact of student mobilizations in Quebec.
Chinese Millionaires Spend Thousands to Satisfy Their Urge to Kill
Submitted on February 29, 2012February 29 2012 - Libcom
It seems the new parasitic class of Chinese millionaires are not content with merely making millions through exploiting the Chinese working class. Increasing numbers of them are now choosing to spend these millions to pay for the right to kill animals all over the world...A luxury polar bear hunting holiday in Canada...is the most expensive package hunting holiday available for this Chinese elite. But if you don't fancy that cold weather you can always go to one of the many African, European or Oceanic retreats available...
From Greed to Seed
Submitted on February 29, 2012Vandana Shiva addresses "everything under the sun"
At 7 p.m. sharp on Feb. 27, a hush falls over the Ondaatje lecture hall at Dalhousie University.
Australia: Public Housing an Issue for Whole Community
Submitted on February 29, 2012By Douglas Jordan - Green Left Weekly
Public housing in...Australia...is in a state of crisis. For at least the last two decades, successive state governments have failed to meet the challenge of providing public housing to all who need it...Instead, they have relied on the free market to provide “affordable housing” as a means of avoiding their responsibilities. The result has been a disaster, with nearly 40,000 people on waiting lists.
Occupy London Camp Cleared by Riot Cops
Submitted on February 29, 2012By Paul Stuart - 29 February 2012
Riot police moved in at midnight February 28 to clear the Occupy protest camp established outside St Paul’s Cathedral last October...Twenty arrests were made as a small group of protesters peacefully resisted. The majority packed away their equipment under threat of large-scale police repression.
The Trouble with the 99 Per Cent
Submitted on February 29, 2012By Michael Laxer - February 29, 2012
"We are the 99 percent["]...does not take into account the basically dangerous aspect to a world-view like this, which is both disingenuous and bourgeois in its desire to eclipse real issues of class, management, Social Mandarins, and the true underpinning of inequality with a slogan that appears to embrace "everyone," in the classic American way. By doing so it in fact embraces and lets off the hook many, if not most, of the basic enemies of working-class and socialist or anti-capitalist politics.
To be a Haligonian Marxist in the 1970s
Submitted on February 29, 2012This Thursday, Herb Gamberg and Tony Thomson Speak on New Communist Movement in 1970s Halifax
The world has changed drastically since the 1970s, and so have the breadth, scope, and seriousness of the movements that purport to fight against raw capitalism. Whereas the New Left movement in North America was seemingly galvanized by the Vietnam draft, we now find ourselves in a state of constant war.
Looting the Seas
Submitted on February 28, 2012Looting the seas unchecked assures eventual demise of a valued global food source for millions. It's one of many environmental crimes destroying planet earth for profit unless stopped.
Israel Steps Up Repression in Occupied Palestinian Territories
Submitted on February 28, 2012By Jean Shaoul - WSWS
On Friday, Israeli forces fired on Palestinian protesters at a checkpoint near Ramallah in the West Bank, killing one young man and injuring four more. Further clashes broke out at the funeral procession in north Jerusalem the following day that resulted in 12 injuries...Palestinians face increasing Israeli encroachment on their land and resources, making economic life all but impossible without international aid, which has largely dried up.
500 People Dead in the U.S. Because Cops Tasered Them
Submitted on February 28, 2012By Steven D. - February 28, 2012
Non-lethal force. Saving lives. Who can argue with that. Well, in the United States, Amnesty International now reports that 500 people have been killed by Tasers employed by law enforcement officials. I imagine if they had a voice they might have something to say about the rampant use of this weapon...that took from them...everything they ever had on this earth and everything they were ever going to have.
An Open Letter to Bruce Springsteen, REM, Wilco and Arcade Fire on Obama
Submitted on February 28, 2012By Ian Sinclair - February 25, 2012
Rather than continuing to support the most powerful politician in the world...isn't it time you, as popular artists with huge audiences and all the influence this suggests, began to give a voice to the victims of the Obama administration?
Is the Québec Student Strike a Spark?
Submitted on February 28, 2012By Stefan Christoff - February 28, 2012
Tens of thousands of students are on the streets protesting moves by the Québec Liberal government to inflate post-secondary tuition fees by $1,625 in the next five years. A serious grassroots battle is underway as students hold major street protests, sit-ins, and direct actions...Montreal is alive with dramatic protests. Tens of thousands took to the streets in a major demonstration last week, the largest strike action to date, emptying the schools of students.
500,000 Farmed salmon missing from Cooke Aquaculture site?
Submitted on February 28, 2012Is there an ISA risk in St. Mary's Bay?
St. Mary's Bay Coastal Alliance is calling on Cooke Aquaculture Ltd. and
the Province of Nova Scotia to immediately explain the disappearance of
upwards of 500,000 salmon from a Cooke aquaculture site in St. Mary's Bay.
According to an affidavit sworn to in November, 2011 by Jeff Nickerson, Salt
10 Reasons Why the Israel Lobby AIPAC Is So Dangerous
Submitted on February 28, 2012By Medea Benjamin - Dissident Voice
The American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) is one of the most powerful lobby organizations in the [United States]. AIPAC’s clout helps fuel a never-ending cycle of violence in the Middle East...From stopping a catastrophic war with Iran to finally solving the Israel/Palestine conflict, an essential starting point is breaking AIPAC’s grip on U.S. policy.
NGO Monitor Denies Truth for Israel
Submitted on February 28, 2012NGO Monitor is a Jerusalem-based pro-Israeli front group. It disseminates propaganda, other misinformation and hate. It debases legitimate human rights organizations, independent journalism, and other truth, equity and justice advocates.
U.S. and Britain Gear Up for War on Iran
Submitted on February 28, 2012By Bill Van Auken - 28 February 2012
The military commands in both the US and Britain have sought increased funding and stepped up deployments of arms and personnel to the Persian Gulf in preparation for an anticipated war against Iran...Under the Pentagon’s plans, US warships would be equipped with anti-tank weapons, rapid-fire machine guns and light weapons for use against the Iranian navy’s small speedboats. They would be backed by increased numbers of unmanned drones.
La criminalisation des groupes environnementaux et écologistes radicaux et les politiques ''anti-terroristes'' du gouvernement Harper : Qui a peur des écolos ?
Submitted on February 28, 2012entrevue avec Bruno Massé, coordonnateur du Réseau québécois des groupes écologistes
Texte
Qui a peur des écolos ?
de Bruno Massé
What English Canadians Need to Understand About Quebec, the NDP and Thomas Mulcair
Submitted on February 28, 2012By Pierre Beaudet - rabble.ca
...[H]ere we have a New Democratic Party campaign that is going nowhere...More than that, the front-runner is now an ex-Liberal Minister who was known for his trade-union bashing and his love of free trade agreements, not to mention his "affair" with Israel...Mulcair was also not only a staunch anti-nationalist, he even fought hard against Bill 101 (to protect the French language). Even if people tend to forget things, not many people will give him any credibility when he says that he speaks "for Quebec."
"But That Would Be Torture!"
Submitted on February 27, 2012By DAVE LINDORFF - February 27, 2012
How can it be that there is such widespread empathy in America for the old and the sick and such revulsion at the idea of restraining them...and yet when it comes to actually torturing people considered to be “terrorists”...or people who have been jailed...many of the same people are happy to see them water-boarded, hung by the wrists from the ceiling with only their toes on the ground, placed for hours in stress positions, slammed against the wall...and shackled like slaves when removed from their cells?
Les femmes résistent à l’offensive des minières canadiennes
Submitted on February 27, 2012Hunger Striking for Justice
Submitted on February 27, 2012Behind bars, prisoners have few ways to resist injustice. Refusing food's a common tactic. Khader Adnan's the latest detainee to attract attention. His heroism made it worldwide.
BC Teachers Send Message - Negotiate!
Submitted on February 27, 2012VANCOUVER - Local public school teachers joined their colleagues across the province today in a day of action. Before and after classes they took to the streets with placards calling for the province to negotiate - not legislate.
More Prisons, Higher Profits
Submitted on February 27, 2012By Kaley Kennedy - February 27, 2012
Criticism of cheap prison labour is something often aimed at privately owned U.S. super jails, but here in Canada, thousands of imprisoned people form a labour pool where wages dip below a dollar an hour...Prison wages have not increased in about 25 years; however...the cost of the average basket of canteen goods inmates require has increased from $8.49 to over $60.
Syrian Conflict Destabilizes Lebanon
Submitted on February 27, 2012By Niall Green - 27 February 2012
Lebanon’s defense minister met with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in Tehran on Sunday for talks focusing on the escalating conflict in Syria. The official Iranian news agency reported that Ahmadinejad told Defense Minister Fayez Ghosn to “resist the plots” of “domination-seeking powers” who were working to remove the government of Bashar al-Assad in Syria...The Lebanese minister reportedly replied, “Lebanon will never forget that Iran stood by us in times of great difficulty.”
The Dershbag Dishes Dirt
Submitted on February 27, 2012By Daniel McGowan - February 27th, 2012
Could there be a more contemptible slime thrower than Alan Dershowitz? He is supposed to be a renowned defense attorney, but he is best known for his offense in defaming anyone who questions Zionism and the apartheid and misery it has brought to Palestine and to other parts of the world, including the United States...Jimmy Carter, John Mearsheimer, Richard Goldstone, Desmond Tutu, Susan Abulhawa, and Norman Finkelstein have all been scourged by this infamous Dershbag.
Harper Roboscam Recordings Revealed
Submitted on February 27, 2012Former US President Richard Nixon was able to keep 18 ½ potentially incriminating minutes of White House audio tapes under wraps, allowing him to avoid being personally connected to the dirty tricks used against his political opponents in what became known as the Watergate scandal.
Brutal Bahraini State Terror
Submitted on February 26, 2012For over a year, Saudi and Al-Khalifa monarchy security forces terrorized nonviolent protesters. Thousands braved tear gas, beatings, rubber bullets, live fire, arrests, torture and disappearances. Washington is very much involved. Bahrain is the home of America's Fifth Fleet. Millions of dollars in aid is provided.
Koran Burning: Dehumanizing Muslims
Submitted on February 26, 2012More than other ethnic/religious groups, Western discourse portrays Muslim/Arabs stereotypically as culturally inferior, dirty, lecherous, untrustworthy, religiously fanatical, and violent.
Worldwide Financial Scandal Resignations: Are the Rats Deserting the Sinking Ship?
Submitted on February 26, 2012As sailors have known for thousands of years, when the rats get nervous, the boat has sprung a leak.
The Imperial Way: American Decline in Perspective (Part 2)
Submitted on February 26, 2012By Noam Chomsky - Tomdispatch
While the principles of imperial domination have undergone little change, the capacity to implement them has markedly declined as power has become more broadly distributed in a diversifying world...It is, however, very important to bear in mind that...none lifts the two dark clouds that hover over all consideration of global order: nuclear war and environmental catastrophe, both literally threatening the decent survival of the species...Both threats are ominous, and increasing.
Debating Violence in the Occupy Movement
Submitted on February 26, 2012By Stuart Jeanne Bramhall - February 25th, 2012
By now several thousands progressives and liberals have read the article “The Cancer in Occupy,” by Chris Hedges from February 6. In the article, Hedges condemns the so-called “Black Bock Movement” and “Black Bloc anarchists” for a variety of sins that include breaking store and car windows, burning flags, and swearing and throwing tear gas canisters at the police. There is a major problem with the whole premise of the article...However unless they are regular readers of anarchist and left libertarian websites and blogs, activists are unlikely to have seen the numerous critiques of “The Cancer in Occupy” that correct this and other factual errors in Hedges’ article.
European Trade Unions Back EU Austerity Demands
Submitted on February 26, 2012By Christoph Dreier - WSWS
The European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) has called a so-called “European Day of Action for Employment and Social Justice” on February 29. This toothless protest is the trade union bureaucracy’s response to the growing radicalization of European workers and mounting popular hostility to the austerity measures being imposed at the behest of the European Union...Such actions cannot hide the fact that in every European country the unions are helping to impose the dictates of the banks and the EU over the opposition of the people.
Ticketing of homeless people in Montreal sky-rockets
Submitted on February 26, 2012Researchers, community groups call on city to support, no criminalize, homeless population
Over the past 16 years, the number of tickets given to homeless people in Montreal has increased seven-fold: In 1994, the amount given out was 1,054; by 2010,the number had soared to 6562. From 2006 to 2010 alone, 30,551 tickets were given to people who gave their residence as a Montreal homeless shelter.
The Truth About Lester Pearson's Peacekeeping (Review)
Submitted on February 26, 2012By Paul Weinberg - February 23, 2012
In his new book, Yves Engler sets to demolish the near saintly status of Lester Bowles ("Mike") Pearson in the public sphere, Canadian foreign policy circles and even on the social democratic left. And in the process, he takes on the much repeated slogan that "the world needs more of Canada"...Much like Noam Chomsky who provides a forward to Lester Pearson's Peacekeeping, the author relies mostly on the excellent but largely unread scholarship plus the former PM's own statements in Parliament and in memos to successfully establish a case.
Don’t Tell Us It’s Not a Class War
Submitted on February 26, 2012By Gerald Caplan - Friday, Feb. 24, 2012
The entire world seems to be one huge advertisement for The Shock Doctrine...[E]verything that’s happened in the past several years has gone to further empower and enrich the 1 per cent...at the expense of the rest of us...What else does the universal demand for austerity programs mean? What else does the sudden concerted attack on public sector workers mean? What else does the intransigent line taken by multinational corporations against their unions mean? What else does the demand for “right-to-work” laws mean? What else does the widespread attack on seniors’ pensions mean?
Spoiling for War on Syria
Submitted on February 26, 2012Nearly a year ago, Western-backed insurgent violence erupted. Heavily armed foreign fighters supplemented internal ones. Al Qaeda is very much involved. Russian and Chinese peace initiatives are spurned. Washington, rogue NATO partners, and pro-Western regional allies want conflict.
Remembering Garda Ghista
Submitted on February 25, 2012On February 20, activist/scholar/author/humanitarian, and dear friend, Garda Ghista succumbed to breast cancer. On February 22, her son Firdaus reported the sad news. Garda lived what she believed. Her life's mission was helping others by establishing life-sustaining initiatives. She gave all selflessly.
Autopsy Shows Retired Michigan Auto Worker Froze to Death After Utility Shutoff
Submitted on February 25, 2012By Lawrence Porter - 24 February 2012
A preliminary autopsy has found that John Morgan, an 86-year-old retired auto worker whose body was found in his truck Monday in Flint, Michigan, died of hypothermia and existing heart and lung problems. Morgan apparently sought to warm himself inside his truck after utility giant Consumers Energy cut off electricity to his house for an outstanding bill of $291.
Khader Adnan's Unpublicized Hunger Strike
Submitted on February 25, 2012By Charlotte Kates - The Dominion
"Khader Adnan is invisible in Canadian media. We see [Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister] John Baird saying that Israel has no greater friend than Canada, at a time when Khader Adnan is protesting his arbitrary detention without charge, settlements are expanding and the illegal occupation continues..."
- Palestinian community activist Khaled Barakat
Paratroopers Readied for Future Social Unrest in UK
Submitted on February 25, 2012By Paul Stuart - 25 February 2012
The Daily Telegraph has reported that soldiers from the elite 3rd battalion of the Parachute Regiment are engaged in counter-riot training exercises...Government officials have downplayed the possibility of deploying the parachute regiment during civil unrest like last summer’s urban riots, but the character of the exercises...tells a different story. The training consisted of how to arrest rioters in scenarios recreating last August’s riots that involved fighting running battles with groups of protesters.
The 10 Worst Things About the Oscars
Submitted on February 25, 2012By Julianne Escobedo Shepherd - January 30, 2012
The 2012 Academy Awards are marching onward, scheduled to air their singular brand of glitz and self-congratulation on Sunday. While they’re often fun to watch...there are also plenty of things to criticize about them, and not all of them are obvious...[W]hile you ogle the pomp and circumstance also keep these things in mind: the 10 most annoying, offensive, and stupid things about the Oscars.
Progressives Embrace Humanitarian Imperialism – Again!
Submitted on February 25, 2012By John V. Walsh - Dissident Voice
“Foreign Intervention in Syria? A Debate with Joshua Landis and Karam Nachar” promised the headline on Democracy Now! on 22 February. Eagerly I tuned in, hoping to hear a thorough exposé of the machinations of the US Empire in Syria...But this was neither exposé nor debate. Both sides, Landis and Nachar, were pro-intervention for “humanitarian” reasons...It was yet one more sign that the “progressive” movement in the West has largely abandoned its antiwar, anti-intervention stance.
Ontario Legislature to Debate Call for Greek-Style Austerity
Submitted on February 25, 2012By Carl Bronski - WSWS
With the Ontario legislature resuming sitting this past week, debate among the province’s three official parties has begun on a report tabled by “independent” analyst Don Drummond earlier this month that proposed sweeping, Greek-style austerity measures...The cuts proposed by Drummond are four times larger than those implemented by the hated Conservative government of Premier Mike Harris during its first term (1995-1999).
Conservatives Suppress Democracy: RoboGate, Dangerous Words and a Scarier Worldview
Submitted on February 25, 2012By David P. Ball - February 25, 2012
Across the board – whether it's using dirty tricks to get elected in the first place, smear attacks on opponents and critics, or legislation that will completely undermine human rights and civil liberties – the Conservatives are fundamentally reshaping Canada's future...Exploiting public fears of pedophiles, terrorists, foreigners and radicals – in other words, of constant danger itself – is the conservative movement's bread-and-butter.
MORE Intelligence Reports from the V2010ISU-JIG
Submitted on February 25, 2012It seems to never end. I got a less redacted version of the V2010ISU-JIG reports, and I currently have the following reports:
ACTA 2.0
Submitted on February 24, 2012The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) calls the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) "a secretive, multi-nation agreement that threatens to extend restrictive intellectual property laws across the globe."
Portland Police Chief Defends Latest Police Killing
Submitted on February 24, 2012By Hector Cordon - WSWS
The state of Oregon has seen four deaths by police so far this year of either mentally ill or inebriated men. In Portland, between January 2010 and June 2011, five men were shot by city police officers, four of them killed. According to Jenny Westberg, board member of the Mental Health Association of Portland, “Since 1980, at least 220 people have been shot, shot at, or killed by Portland-area police.”
The "Feminism" of Maggie Thatcher: Celebrating the Self-Empowerment of Elite White Women
Submitted on February 24, 2012By GAIL DINES - Counterpunch Weekend Edition
I usually like watching Meryl Streep, but I seriously hope that she doesn’t win an Oscar on Sunday for her portrayal of Margaret Thatcher. I couldn’t stand the thought of more people going to see such a dreadful piece of right-wing propaganda. I actually paid money to see The Iron Lady...All I could think about during the torturous 100 minutes, was what great timing this film is for the Republicans. Just as they try to sell neo-liberal ideology to an increasingly impoverished working class, here comes a movie that celebrates one of their most ardent proponents.
CBC Misrepresenting Quebec Student Strike?
Submitted on February 24, 2012By Stefan Christoff - Coop Média de Montréal
CBC coverage of Quebec student protests in downtown Montreal today is driven by a painfully obvious bias against the student strike...News reports via CBC have consistently failed to scrutinize violent police actions against striking students, and the station's coverage bends toward the austerity-driven logic of the Quebec government's policy to hike tuition fees.
French "Socialist" Party Presidential Candidate Calls for Interning the Roma
Submitted on February 24, 2012By Antoine Lerougetel - 24 February 2012
In a February 12 interview...François Hollande, Socialist Party candidate for president...proposed as a “solution” to the presence in France of Roma European Union (EU) citizens “the creation of camps ... to accommodate them”...Hollande called for the establishment of “European rules to avoid our experiencing this constant to and fro [of the Roma]. Let there be camps that we can decide on, that is, to avoid these people settling just anywhere ... [to] enable these people to go back to Romania ... and not then return to France”.
6 Shocking Ways U.S. Schools Treat Students Like Criminals
Submitted on February 24, 2012By Kristen Gwynne - February 23, 2012
Too many of America's public schools have become pipelines to incarceration. Instances of nonviolent youth treated like criminals -- strip-searched or shackled for the most minor infractions -- shed light on a problem so widespread that every example would be impossible to document...This summer alone...NYPD school safety officers arrested more than one student per day, and gave summonses to at least three kids daily...While these charges are minor, if a student fails to show up to court, he or she will be issued a warrant for arrest.
Moving On Up: Gentrification in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside
Submitted on February 24, 2012By Harsha Walia and Dave Diewert - rabble.ca
In the poorest urban neighbourhood in Canada, Vancouver's Downtown Eastside (DTES), gentrification has been on the move for decades. Plotting these new developments on a map of the DTES and walking along the now unfamiliar streets reveals gentrification for what it is: a form of structural violence..."As a generalized urban strategy, gentrification weaves together the interests of city managers, developers and landlords, corporate employers and cultural and educational institutions."
"Friends of Syria" Plan War and Regime Change at Washington’s Behest
Submitted on February 24, 2012By Chris Marsden - WSWS
The “Friends of Syria” are a gang of political criminals, gathered in Tunisia to plan the latest in a series of destabilization campaigns that have all ended in colonial wars of aggression...The meeting at Tunis is premised on the claim that the Western powers are intent on protecting popular protests from the brutal regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. The reality is that the imperialist powers’ intelligence agencies and special forces have been instrumental in stoking a sectarian-Sunni movement against Assad, plunging Syria into a bloody civil war.
An Attack On Iran Would be an Act of Criminal Stupidity
Submitted on February 24, 2012By Seumas Milne - Znet
[An attack on Iran] would...be guaranteed to trigger a regional conflagration with uncontrollable global consequences. Iran could be expected to retaliate against Israel, the US and its allies, both directly and indirectly, and block the fifth of international oil supplies shipped through the Strait of Hormuz. The trail of death, destruction and economic havoc would be awesome.
"You're an Asshole:" Tory MP Booed at Vigil for Dead Teenager
Submitted on February 24, 2012Feb 24, 2012 - CBC News
[Conservative] Labrador MP Peter Penashue triggered an angry reaction at a vigil in Happy Valley-Goose Bay on Thursday night when he refused to discuss the quality of search and rescue..."We wanted to hear that he was going to do something, to give us search and rescue, that he was going to work on our behalf...We didn't get that. He didn't even mention it. That's despicable."
Following the Money: Is Bay Street Backing Thomas Mulcair?
Submitted on February 24, 2012By Derrick O'Keefe - February 24, 2012
"Gerry" Schwartz was a co-founder of CanWest Global Communications and is the current CEO of Onex Corporation...[W]ith the collapse of the Liberal Party and the rise of the NDP, it looks like he and some of his Bay Street friends are putting their money on Mulcair...Schwartz...is also among the most prominent and influential backers in Canada of Israeli policies of militarism and occupation.
It’s Official
Submitted on February 24, 2012Leaked documents reveal Harper government’s active targeting of anti-oil sands organizations
Documents obtained by the Climate Action Network via access to information legislation reveal that the Harper government
CBC misrepresenting Quebec student strike?
Submitted on February 23, 2012CBC coverage of Quebec student protests in downtown Montreal today is driven by a painfully obvious bias against the student strike.
News reports via CBC have consistently failed to scrutinize violent police actions against striking students, and the station's coverage bends toward the austerity-driven logic of the Quebec government's policy to hike tuition fees.
Lynne Stewart Appeal for Justice
Submitted on February 23, 2012Lynne's a courageous human rights lawyer, not a criminal.
Robocalling: Power Behind the Throne
Submitted on February 23, 2012US-Style Campaigning in Toronto
Toronto - Concerns released today by Elections Canada about campaign tactics are part of a growing trend of political accusations - many of which have a Toronto connection.
Greece: The Epicenter of Global Pillage
Submitted on February 23, 2012Greece is being systematically destroyed and its people driven into deep poverty to assure bankers are paid.
Huffington Post Quebec: The "Progressive" Alternative?
Submitted on February 23, 2012By Tim McSorley - February 23, 2012
As a news outlet, the [Huffington Post Quebec] surely doesn't need to line up uncritically behind the student movement. But when its main headline describing today's actions...calls the situation "CHAOS," and that the main blog post they are promoting on the topic is a weak attempt to delegitimize the movement by questioning whether it can be called a strike...one would wonder if they aren't simply lined up on the same side as Péladeau, Qubébecor and Sun News...
Would We Have Drugged Einstein? How Anti-Authoritarianism Is Deemed a Mental Health Problem
Submitted on February 23, 2012By Bruce E. Levine - AlterNet
In my career as a psychologist, I have talked with hundreds of people previously diagnosed by other professionals with Oppositional Defiant Disorder, Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder, Anxiety Disorder and other psychiatric illnesses, and I am struck by 1) how many of those diagnosed are essentially anti-authoritarians; and 2) how those professionals who have diagnosed them are not...The selection and socialization of mental health professionals tends to breed out many anti-authoritarians.
Former Victim's Ombudsman Says Tory Crime Bill Will Not Benefit Victims of Crime
Submitted on February 23, 2012By Meagan Fitzpatrick - CBC News
The federal government's massive crime bill won't help victims and could do the opposite, the former ombudsman for victims of crime warned Thursday..."I think everything this government does is political...I honestly believe this is their ideology, and they think this will work and they just ignore anything that will question that. And I don't think that's a responsible government."
The False Economy of BC Budget 2012: Deficit Exaggerated to Avoid Spending on Real Problems
Submitted on February 23, 2012By Iglika Ivanova - CCPA
...[T]he [British Columbia] government decided not to tackle the serious social issues that BC families face: abject poverty and homelessness, growing income inequality and increasingly poor job quality. There is nothing in this budget to ensure that BC will be able to meet its climate commitments...Children, vulnerable seniors and British Columbians were asked to wait until the economy improves while the government chose to use its limited public resources to extend a tax break of up to $42,500 each to wealthy buyers of new homes...
Huffington Post Quebec: The 'progressive' alternative?
Submitted on February 23, 2012Just a few weeks ago, the Huffington Post Quebec was born, an all-French language, Quebec-based version of the extremely-popular blog and news site founded by Arrianna Huffington.
Irresponsible Anti-Iranian Fear-Mongering
Submitted on February 23, 2012Irresponsible anti-Iranian political and pack journalism rhetoric sound ominously like spurious Iraqi WMD threats in the run-up to the 2003 war.
Counter-Terrorism and Northern Border Drug Strategy Tied to Perimeter Security Deal
Submitted on February 23, 2012By Dana Gabriel
The never ending war on drugs and war on terrorism are being used to justify the huge police state security apparatus being assembled. This includes the militarization of the northern border and plans for a North American security perimeter. In the name of national security, there has been a steady erosion of civil liberties and privacy rights in both the U.S. and Canada. Our freedoms are under assault.
Retired Michigan Autoworker Dies After Utilities Shut Off
Submitted on February 23, 2012By Lawrence Porter - 23 February 2012
Early Monday morning neighbors found 86-year-old John Morgan, a retired Flint autoworker, dead in his truck parked outside in his driveway...Morgan died a few days after the local utility company shut off his electricity for a bill of $291...Officials say they are awaiting autopsy reports to determine the exact cause of death, as Morgan had various health problems. However, there was immediate widespread anger that another elderly worker has died because he was trying to stay warm.
The Glorification of Our Secret Killers
Submitted on February 23, 2012By JOHN GRANT - Counterpunch
“Navy SEALs are Olympic athletes that kill people for a living.”
- Right-Wing American Author Tom Clancy, in his opening to Act of Valor, a popular novelization of the recently released film of the same name.
Candlelight vigil to commemorate the Hungarian Roma victims of hate crime
Submitted on February 23, 2012On February 21, 2012 in Parkdale, Toronto a candlelight vigil was held to commemorate the Hungarian Roma victims of hate crime perpetrated in Hungary over the past few years by openly racist, “anti-Gypsy” paramilitary groups.
Toronto Cop Charged with Second-Degree Murder for On-Duty Shooting
Submitted on February 23, 2012Feb 23, 2012 - CBC News
A Toronto police officer has been charged with second-degree murder — the first time a member of the force has faced a murder charge for actions taken while on duty...[Const. David] Cavanagh had originally been charged with manslaughter in the shooting death of 26-year-old Eric Osawe in late 2010...The murder charge implies that the Crown believes there is evidence the accused intended to kill the victim.
Philippine Mining Climate: Canada Connection
Submitted on February 23, 2012Call for pitches!
Submitted on February 23, 2012Pitch for pay
As we do every month, in March we will pay two contributors for news features to be published in The Dominion. Just for this month, we will in fact pay one additional contributor for a news feature.
Gaza Gripped by Crisis
Submitted on February 22, 2012Israel is committing slow-motion genocide against 1.7 million people.
Greek Deal: More Pain for Workers, No End to Europe’s Crisis
Submitted on February 22, 2012By Julie Hyland - 22 February 2012
The €130 billion-plus (US$172 billion) package of loans agreed by euro zone finance ministers will not protect Greece from bankruptcy. It merely postpones the inevitable, while European and international finance capital use Greece as a testing ground for their scorched-earth policy of savage austerity being rolled out across the continent.
Taking Liberties: Canada's Booming Business of Detention and Deportation
Submitted on February 22, 2012By Matthew Behrens - February 21, 2012
Detained refugees experience the trauma of being shackled and chained on their journey to and from medical care and during certain procedures in Canadian hospitals...This shameful state of affairs represents just one of the many abusive practices currently applied against some of the world's most vulnerable people once they arrive in Canada. It also shines a spotlight on the devastating consequences of both the Balanced Refugee Reform Act passed last year and Jason Kenney's further repressive Protecting Canada's Immigration System Act, introduced last week.
When the Woodchips are Down
Submitted on February 22, 2012Steve MacDougall from CEP Local 972 on the future of the Port Hawkesbury mill
Port Hawkesbury, Nova Scotia, is a town that rides the fortunes of its mill. And fortunes are currently down.
Khadar Adnan Ending Hunger Strike
Submitted on February 22, 2012Adnan's heroic struggle hasn't gone unnoticed.
Police Chief Timoney, Meet Bahraini Mothers
Submitted on February 22, 2012By Medea Benjamin - February 22, 2012
John Timoney is the controversial former Miami police chief well known for orchestrating brutal crackdowns on protests in Miami and Philadelphia...It should be of great concern that the Kingdom of Bahrain has brought Timoney...to “reform” Bahrain’s security forces...Since assuming his new position, Timoney has claimed that Bahrain has been reforming its brutal police tactics...He says that there is less tear gas being used and that while tear gas might be “distasteful,” it’s not really harmful.
Canada Told Mandatory Drug Sentences a "Colossal Mistake" by Attorney Who Wrote U.S. Laws
Submitted on February 22, 2012Feb 22, 2012 - CBC News
An attorney who helped U.S. politicians write mandatory-minimum sentencing laws during the 1980s has a warning for Canadian parliamentarians..."When you start going down this road of building more prisons and sending people away for long periods of time, and you convince yourself that this is going to deter people you've made a colossal mistake..."
Heightening Anti-Iranian Tensions
Submitted on February 21, 2012Obama and Israel want regime change by any means.
Tweet This At Your Own Risk
Submitted on February 21, 2012If you're emailing your mom about a freak (and don't spell it phreak, because that's on the list too) ice storm in San Diego that dropped a foot of snow, you'll be on some list somewhere.
Drummond's "One Percent" Report
Submitted on February 21, 2012Shock Doctrine Economics for Ontario
Toronto - The Drummond Report, an economic report commissioned by the Ontario Provincial government, is a set of "1% solutions, that benefit the 1%", according to opponents claiming it suggests a return to 1990's-style federal economic policy.
Khader Adnan: Dying for Justice
Submitted on February 21, 2012Adnan symbolizes Israeli ruthlessness. He's a legend in his own time. Global human rights groups, activists, and many others support him.
California Hunger Striker Dies as Prison Conditions Deteriorate
Submitted on February 21, 2012By Jack Hood - WSWS
Christian Alexander Gomez, a 27 year-old inmate, died earlier this month at the Corcoran State Prison in California. He was on the fourth day of a hunger strike against overcrowding and poor living conditions for inmates throughout the California prison system...There are approximately 2.3 million people behind bars in the United States, and the US has a far higher incarceration rate than any other country in the world.
Aerial Surveillance, Snipers, Face Masks: Chicago's Newest Anti-Protest Measures Revealed
Submitted on February 21, 2012By Yana Kunichoff - February 20, 2012
Each time a new measure that the city of Chicago is preparing for the coming NATO and G8 summits is unveiled, the tension in the city ratchets up a notch. The latest news comes in the form of reports that Chicago has purchased face shields, and may be considering the implementation of airborne surveillance technology.
The World That Made Don Drummond
Submitted on February 21, 2012By Michael Laxer - February 21, 2012
Don Drummond is the Banker/Economist who has proposed Harris-style cuts to the Liberal government of Ontario.
The [New Democratic Party] has...bought into all of the basic ideas of the new neo-liberal ideological framework...As with the Democrats in the U.S. and most of the Socialist and Social Democratic parties in Europe...the NDP have bought into almost every fundamental aspect of the new ideological order and, by doing so, have created and helped to perpetuate the very ideas and philosophies that hinder them in their pursuit...of actually making a difference and being anything other than a last defence against the "storm."
The Bitter Taste of Brazil’s World Cup
Submitted on February 21, 2012By RAUL ZIBECHI - February 21, 2012
“The people believe that they will prosper with the arrival of the World Cup, but the truth is that they will be brutally repressed...The World Cup will be great business, but only for the big sporting goods companies and those authorized to sell food and drinks...”
- Roberto Morales, Socialist Liberty Party advisor and member of the Popular Committee of the World Cup
An Apology Ceremony That Needs to be Publicized
Submitted on February 21, 2012By Bill Fletcher - Znet
Approximately two million people of Mexican ancestry were deported from the USA during the Depression. This was not only Mexican nationals, but...US citizens of Mexican ancestry. This was a blatant example of ethnic cleansing taking place in the USA which destroyed families and exiled family members, in some cases indefinitely...What's to prevent this from happening again?
CKUT Off The Hour: Canada’s National Homelessness Marathon Celebrates Its Tenth Anniversary
Submitted on February 21, 2012In conversation with Aaron Lakoff, Homelessness Marathon Coordinator
A Voice of Integrity in the Canadian Media Fired Again
Submitted on February 21, 2012By Linda Belanger - February 21st, 2012
On Thursday, February 9th, 2011, Bell Media, owners of CTV and CFRA Radio in Ottawa, fired talk show host Michael Harris. Harris is a journalist of the highest integrity, a Woodrow Wilson Scholar and award winning author of numerous books, four of which have sparked Canadian Royal Commissions. He has been outspoken on Palestinian rights, environmental issues and the Harper government’s undemocratic behaviour just to name a few.
UK Government to Extend Workfare for Young Unemployed
Submitted on February 21, 2012By Eileen Rose - 21 February 2012
Thousands of businesses are to receive a letter...inviting them to sign up to the Youth Contract. Starting in April, the scheme will pay employers £2.75 for every 18- to 20-year-old taken on from the Work Programme introduced in November 2011. The youth themselves will not be paid...Many large firms have taken on “participants” to save wages and receive the bonus of payments. They are mostly supermarkets and fast-food chains...
Occupy Vancouver to occupy Brookfield Asset Management over logging dispute
Submitted on February 21, 2012A 24hour occupation of Brookfield offices in Vancouver: how do I join?
MEDIA ADVISORY
Occupy Vancouver, Unceded Coast Salish Territory, February 21, 2012—
Occupy Vancouver to occupy Brookfield Asset Management over logging dispute.
What: A 24hour occupation of Brookfield offices in Vancouver.
When: From noon Saturday February 25 to noon Sunday February 26.
One hour with CerAmony about their opposition to the Plan Nord and much more
Submitted on February 21, 2012on Ecolibrium at CKUT, you can find a lot more about CerAmony on http://www.ceramony.ca/
you can also listen their music there : http://www.myspace.com/ceramony
The State of Our Unions
Submitted on February 21, 2012Tales from the labour movement in Nova Scotia
"As long as rostering stays on the table, we'd be looking at the longest transit strike in Halifax's history...The public are the people behind metro transit, all they have to do is call their councillors, call their mayor, and say get us back to work, get back to the table."
Bored But Not Broken: "Oh Shit. . .They've Got Gloves On!"
Submitted on February 21, 2012By Mandy Hiscocks - February 21, 2012
A bunch of guards come in and trash your cells, leaving a huge mess and possibly confiscating things they decide you can't have. They're filing in through the door yelling at us to get out of our cells and line up against the wall. They're wearing single-use blue rubber gloves, all except one. He's wearing black leather. Gross. Maybe he's an environmentalist and doesn't like disposables? Or maybe what he really wanted to be when he grew up was a cop. . .
Political Prisoners in America's Gulag
Submitted on February 20, 2012Political prisoners rot in US prisons.
"It's Going to Be War:" First Nations Battle Canadian Tar Sands
Submitted on February 20, 2012February 20, 2012 - Oil Sands Truth
The indigenous First Nations of Canada, along with environmentalists and civil society groups, are gearing up for an epic battle as the oil giant Enbridge continues to press for its 'Northern Gateway' pipeline that would transport tar sands oil from Alberta to the coast of British Columbia..."More than 60 B.C. First Nations and aboriginal organizations have signed a declaration opposing the plan to build a 1,177-kilometre twin pipeline from Alberta to the northwest B.C. port of Kitimat, where huge oil tankers will ship oil to Asia and the United States."
"Responsibility to Protect" as Imperial Tool: The Case for a Non-Interventionist Foreign Policy
Submitted on February 20, 2012By JEAN BRICMONT - Counterpunch
Those who support ["humanitarian"] interventions are supporting...the continued existence of the US military machine, with its bloated budgets and its weight on the national debt. The European Greens and Social Democrats...should have the honesty to tell their constituents that they need to accept massive cuts in public spending on pensions, unemployment, health care and education, in order to bring such social expenses down to an American level and use the hundreds of billions of euros thus saved to build a military machine that will be able to intervene whenever and wherever there is a humanitarian crisis.
U.S. Sends Drones Over Syria as Fighting Spreads
Submitted on February 20, 2012By Alex Lantier - 20 February 2012
US military officials confirmed Saturday that US drones are flying over Syria, as fighting spreads inside the country and US officials discuss military or “humanitarian” intervention to topple Syrian President Bashar al Assad...The drone flights, which flagrantly violate Syrian air space, include a “good number” of both military and US intelligence drones...These officials said the drones’ mission is to obtain “intercepts of Syrian government and military communications in an effort to ‘make the case for a widespread international response.’”
George Horton, Living as a G20 Defendant - A ten-minute online documentary
Submitted on February 20, 2012George Horton, Living as a G20 Defendant
A ten-minute online documentary presentation
A documentary short by Zach Ruiter and Misha Synder
The Navy SEALS Gambit: A Real-Life War Novel With No Plot and No End
Submitted on February 20, 2012By Tom Engelhardt - AlterNet
American war is heading for the “shadows” in a big way. As news articles have recently made clear, the tip of the Obama administration’s global spear will increasingly be shaped from the ever-growing ranks of U.S. special operations forces...By now, they are also a force that, in any meaningful sense, is unaccountable for its actions.
Jeremy Lin and ESPN’s "Accidental" Racism
Submitted on February 20, 2012By Dave Zirin - February 19, 2012
The spectacular New York Knicks point guard Jeremy Lin just made more headlines by leading his team to victory over the defending champion Dallas Mavericks...But that’s not the only reason Lin is in the news. Outrage erupted when ESPN’s website posted a headline about the NBA’s first American player of Chinese origin that read, “Chink in the Armor.” Seriously...There are only two conclusions one can draw from all of this. Either ESPN has a group of stone racists sitting at the SportsCenter Desk...or they have no anti-racist mental apparatus for how to talk about an Asian-American player.
Reliving History
Submitted on February 20, 2012Suzanne MacNeil sees need, challenges, opportunities for labour movement in Cape Breton
Cape Breton faces a unique set of issues in Nova Scotia, many related to employment.
Traitement psychiatrique forcé
Submitted on February 20, 2012February 20, 2012 - Coop Média de Montréal
En général, toute personne a le droit de décider si elle veut ou non recevoir un traitement ou être hospitalisée. Cependant, il est possible pour un psychiatre d'aller chercher une ordonnance de traitement. Cela veut dire qu'un jugement de la Cour peut forcer une personne à suivre une thérapie ou à être hospitalisée.
On the Environment Canada is a Rogue State
Submitted on February 20, 2012By Murray Dobbin - February 20, 2012
The Harper government's priority is not the health of Canadians or the quality of the air we breathe and the water we drink. Its single-minded purpose seems to be to promote the oil industry and protect it from any criticism. Demonizing critics of the tar sands as enemies of the country is just one small part of that goal. Eliminating scientific data that could link the oil industry to negative health effects is another.
Traitement psychiatrique forcé
Submitted on February 20, 2012Une recherche sur les ordonnances de traitement et d’hébergement en santé mentale a été dévoilée le 9 février 2012. L'enquête a été menée en 2009 par deux chercheurs de l'UQAM, Marcelo Otero et Geneviève Kristoffersen-Dugré.
"My Sudbury is a Green City" was the message at the first public input session for Greater Sudbury's Official Plan Review
Submitted on February 20, 2012Citizens fill Council Chambers
“How do you see Sudbury in twenty years?” Put another way, “what type of city do you want to live in?” These are the questions residents of Greater Sudbury are being asked during the municipality’s Official Plan review. Going by the first public input session held January 23, the answer is green and healthy.
Israeli Torture: Accountability Denied
Submitted on February 19, 2012The Public Committee Against Torture in Israel (PACTI) "believes that torture and ill-treatment of any kind and under all circumstances is incompatible with the moral values of democracy and the rule of law." Yet it's systematically practiced by Israel's Police, Israel Securities Authority (ISA), Israeli Prison Service (IPS), and Israeli Defense Forces (IDF).
Gazans Recount Terror of Latest Shelling
Submitted on February 19, 2012By Rami Almeghari - Green Left Weekly
Residents of the Gaza City neighborhood al-Tuffah suffered a rude awakening at 2am on February 16 when Israeli warplanes targeted what the army said was a Hamas training site...The shelling left six people injured, including members of two civil defence rescue teams. Civil defence said a firetruck and an ambulance were hit by Israeli missiles as the crew responded to earlier strikes.
Issac Saney's Lessons from Cuba: Race and Revolution
Submitted on February 19, 2012The second lecture in the James Robinson Johnston Lecture Series took place Wednesday, February 15th at Dalhousie University in Halifax with “Race & Revolution: Lessons from Cuba”, a talk by well known scholar and author Isaac Saney.
"Losing" the World: American Decline in Perspective (Part 1)
Submitted on February 19, 2012By Noam Chomsky - February 14, 2012
American decline is real, though the apocalyptic vision reflects the familiar ruling class perception that anything short of total control amounts to total disaster. Despite the piteous laments, the U.S. remains the world dominant power by a large margin, and no competitor is in sight, not only in the military dimension, in which of course the U.S. reigns supreme.
Out of Control Violence in Libya
Submitted on February 19, 2012Wherever NATO intervenes, massacres, mass destruction, and unspeakable horrors and human misery follow.
Researchers Link Morgellons to Slime Mold, Dictyostelium Discoidium [Video]
Submitted on February 19, 2012By Amir Alwani
Potent News
February 17, 2012
Look what the cat dragged in! The cat dragged in Dictyostelium Discoidium, a slime mold that researchers link to Morgellons. Our cat literally dragged this blob in and, when we took a look at it under the microscope, it started laying bits of itself around as it was crawling inside the plastic baggie.
Tough Times for the Posties
Submitted on February 19, 20121st Vice President of CUPW Nova Local on the plight of Halifax's postal workers
A proud single mother of five, union activist Donna Mendes has been a postal worker for 14 years and an active shop steward on the work floor for more than seven. She is currently the 1st Vice President of the Canadian Union of Postal Workers Nova Local.
Honduras' Prison Inferno: A Crime of Capitalism
Submitted on February 19, 2012By Bill Van Auken - WSWS
The more that emerges about this immense tragedy, the more it becomes clear that those who died were victims of a state organized massacre, just as surely as if they had been gunned down by the military death squads that have played such a bloody role in Honduras's recent history...Surviving prisoners have reported that they were fired upon as they tried to escape the flames and have called upon those doing the grim forensic work of identifying the victims to check the corpses for bullet wounds.
Iran, Nuclear Weapons and the Netanyahu Government’s Underlying Agenda
Submitted on February 19, 2012February 16th, 2012 - Independent Jewish Voices Canada
Contrary to the announcements emanating from the governments of Israel and Canada, Independent Jewish Voices (IJV) believes there is no evidence that Iran is on the verge of producing nuclear weapons. By way of contrast, it is widely known that Israel has been building such weapons since the late 1960s and is now estimated to possess hundreds of them in its arsenal...IJV calls upon Canadians to do everything in their power to restrain the Harper government in its unquestioning support for the Netanyahu government’s increasingly aggressive policies.
Depleting the Seas of Fish
Submitted on February 19, 2012In November 2006, Washington Post writer Juliet Eilperin headlined, "World's Fish Supply Running Out, Researchers Warn."
Solidarity with Khader Adnan
Submitted on February 19, 2012Day 62 and counting. Adnan's hunger strike continues. On February 15, Israel let his wife Randa see him for the second time.
The "P" Word
Submitted on February 19, 2012David Heap of Canadian Boat to Gaza comes to town, media cowers
Canadian Boat to Gaza Steering Committee member David Heap was in Halifax on Wednesday, February 15, to discuss the ongoing efforts of the Flotilla movement to break Israel's illegal blockade on Gaza.
U.S. Hypocrisy and Syria
Submitted on February 18, 2012By ALEXANDER COCKBURN - February 17-19, 2012
Few spectacles have been more surreal than senior US officials...solemnly lecturing Assad and his beleaguered Syrian government on the need to accommodate rebel forces...The last time the United States faced serious internal dissent was in the 1960s and early 1970s, from war resisters and black and Native American movements. The government responded instantly with a methodical program of violent repression, including a well-documented agenda of assassination.
UN Vote Seen as Stepping Stone Toward Military Intervention in Syria
Submitted on February 18, 2012By Chris Marsden - 18 February 2012
The support by the United Nations General Assembly for...Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to step down on “humanitarian” grounds brings military intervention one step closer. The 137-12 vote, with 17 abstentions, is non-binding, but it gives a UN imprimatur to the Arab League proposal for regime-change that was blocked on the Security Council by Russia and China...[I]ntervention now has the “Arab face” so desired by the Obama administration, along with the fig leaf of legitimacy imparted by the UN and the implicit authority of the “responsibility to protect” doctrine under which war was waged against Libya.
A Conservative Explains Why Right-Wingers Have No Compassion
Submitted on February 18, 2012By Mike Lofgren - February 17, 2012
"They are highly submissive to established authority...and conventional to the point of insisting everyone should behave as their authorities decide. They are fearful and self-righteous and have a lot of hostility...that they readily direct toward various out-groups. They are easily incited, easily led, rather un-inclined to think for themselves, largely impervious to facts and reason...They bring strong loyalty to their in-groups, have thick-walled, highly compartmentalized minds, use a lot of double standards in their judgments, are surprisingly unprincipled at times and are often hypocrites."
- Canadian Psychologist Robert Altemeyer, on the views of right-wing, religious fundamentalists
We've Seen the Threats Against Iran Before
Submitted on February 18, 2012By Phyllis Bennis - February 18, 2012
...[T]he current anti-Iran mobilization is primarily political. It doesn't reflect actual US or Israeli military or intelligence threat assessments, but rather political conditions pushing politicians, here and in Israel, to escalate the fear factor about Iranian weapons [however non-existent] and the urgency for attacking Iran [however illegal]. And the danger...is that this kind of rhetoric can box leaders in, making them believe they cannot back down from their belligerent words.
National Emergency in Honduras: The Comayagua Prison Fire
Submitted on February 18, 2012The Threat of "Big Brother" Internet Monitoring in Canada
Submitted on February 18, 2012By Mark Karlin - February 17, 2012
The most recent threat to personal privacy coming out of Ottawa is a bill that sounds frighteningly reminiscent of ones we've seen in the U.S....The bill is just in its preliminary stages, but already the Harper Tory government is using the seedy tactics of the U.S. Republican Party to try and intimidate opponents who champion the preservation of civil liberties on the Internet. The Tory public safety minister is...accusing critics of the bill of "aligning themselves with child pornographers."
Dean Spade: Book Launch for `Normal Life`(Part I) Talk
Submitted on February 18, 2012Co-presented by QPIRG Concordia & QPIRG McGill
Indigenous Leadership Vital to Stopping Tar Sands and Pipelines: Environmental Justice Panel
Submitted on February 18, 2012Kangaroos Against Civilization
Submitted on February 18, 2012Deepening Greek Tragedy
Submitted on February 17, 2012Greece is banker occupied. Ordinary people have no say. Parliamentarians get orders and obey. Despite multiple painful austerity rounds, Troika power demands more - the IMF, EU and European Central Bank.
Amnesty International Details Torture and Murder in Libya
Submitted on February 17, 2012By Patrick Martin - 17 February 2012
The savage practices documented by Amnesty investigators include beatings with whips, cables, metal chains and wooden sticks, electric shocks, extraction of fingernails, and rape. Militia fighters conducted these attacks brazenly, in some cases continuing to abuse prisoners while human rights advocates were present...[T]he National Transitional Council, installed by the imperialist powers, has not conducted a single investigation into the torture and abuse of prisoners, and the militias have uncontested authority to do as they please.
Environmental Injustice and Resistance: Why We Need to Support Kitchenuhmaykoosib Inninuwug (KI)
Submitted on February 17, 2012By Sarah Rotz - February 13, 2012
Kitchenuhmaykoosib Inninuwug (KI) First Nation — a remote fly-in Oji-Cree community located roughly 1,400km northwest of Toronto — has governed and cared for their land since time before memory. This immense and rich area of lakes, rivers, boreal forests, and wetlands provides KI...with the essential elements of life, including a clean and consistent supply of fresh water. Indeed, one of the many reasons that KI has chosen to say no to mining exploration on its Homeland is that it would contaminate much of the local water system.
Hold Up. There's No Hold Up
Submitted on February 17, 201210 minutes max, says ATU prez Ken Wilson, as union offers to have management-driven Access-A-Buses leave on time
HALIFAX - It would appear that many Haligonians have fallen for the Chronicle Herald's headline “Union Vows to Hold Up Access-A-Buses.” The headline does tug at the heartstrings: the notion of cruel union types keeping transit from those who need it most incites anger
A Dangerous Method: The Freud-Jung Controversy, Among Other Matters (Review)
Submitted on February 17, 2012By David Walsh - WSWS
Considered as a whole then, one might say that while A Dangerous Method raises intriguing personalities and issues set during a period and in locales that continue to exercise fascination a century later, it treats these elements inadequately and even, at its weakest, teeters on the brink of banality...Perhaps, however, the film’s greatest benefit is that it encourages the spectator to investigate further the figures and issues involved. Because it cannot be argued that [it]...examines them in any great depth.
Static Electricity or Moving Nano-Machines? You Decide [Video Included]
Submitted on February 17, 2012By Louise Koster, Contributing Writer
Potent News
February 15, 2012
Contrary to what the CDC says, Morgellons is not a delusion. I have personally felt and seen my hair move by itself, I've had strange fibres come out of my skin, I constantly feel like there are bugs crawling over my body. I have witnessed many of my fresh organic vegetables, fruits and meat moving by itself, causing me to have to throw out the majority of the food I've bought. I have had to stop wearing a lot of my clothes because even those seem to be comprised of moving fibres. Some might say the fibres in the video below are moving because of static electricity, however I find that very hard to believe.
Banker Proposes Harris-Style Cuts in Ontario
Submitted on February 17, 2012Draconian cutbacks delivered by the Mike Harris Conservative government are back, or should be, according to economist Don Drummond...The former TD Bank analyst released his prognosis of the Ontario economy along with hundreds of cost cutting measures for public services the day after Valentines Day..."To meet its own goal of a balanced budget in seven years, the (Ontario) government will have to cut program spending more deeply...and over a much longer period of time, than the Harris government did in the 1990s...”
Creeping Fascism in the U.S.
Submitted on February 17, 2012By RON JACOBS - Counterpunch Weekend Edition
The list continues to grow. The National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). The essentially unprovoked police attacks on protesters, bystanders and journalists at Occupy protests...The continuing murder of (mostly young and black) men by police departments around the nation with few or no legal repercussions...The continuing pursuit of “material support” charges against antiwar and solidarity activists involved in work against US and Israeli policies. The infant US police state is no longer learning to crawl; it has learned to walk and will soon be stomping its boots in a neighborhood near you.
Banker Occupied Europe and America
Submitted on February 17, 2012Predatory bankers are destroying economies and people for profit.
Hitman Jason Kenney Strikes Again
Submitted on February 17, 2012By Haroon Siddiqui - Wednesday, February 15 2012
[The Harper government] is cutting nearly $1 million in funding to the Mississauga-based Palestine House...The federal money is not for the centre per se...[but] for English language training and immigrant settlement services...“Palestine House, as also the Canadian Arab Federation, have long provided [English as a Second Language] and other immigrant settlement services...and both were doing a good job. Their funding was cut not because they were not doing the job or not delivering the services but because this government and this minister...do not like their political views.”
U.S. and Israel Invoke Terror to Ratchet Up War Threats Against Iran
Submitted on February 17, 2012By Bill Van Auken - 17 February 2012
Both Washington and Israel have seized upon a string of abortive bomb plots in India, Georgia and Thailand to escalate war threats against Iran...The lies about “weapons of mass destruction” and terrorism are being used against Iran...to prepare a war of aggression aimed at furthering US imperialism’s aim of achieving hegemony over the strategically vital energy producing regions of the Persian Gulf and Central Asia.
When is an "NGO" Not an NGO?
Submitted on February 17, 2012By Richard Falk - February 17, 2012
Sometimes these entities are...referred to by the media as ‘civil society institutions,’ which reflects, at best, a woeful state of unknowing, or worse, deliberate deception...It would be more responsive to their nature if such entities were described as ‘informal governmental organizations’...It is hardly surprising that a more honest label is avoided as its use would call attention to the problematic character of the undertakings: namely, disguised intrusions by a foreign government in the internal politics of a foreign country...by way of behavior that poses at the very least a potential threat to its political independence.
Out of Sight: Policing Poverty in Victoria, Coast and Straits Salish Territories
Submitted on February 17, 2012Cuts to health services and income supports for people living in poverty, including those with disabilities involving mental health and illicit drug use, have contributed to a situation where police now act as de facto “first responders” to health-related i
The New York Times: America's Unofficial Propaganda Ministry
Submitted on February 17, 2012For over a century, the New York Times played America's lead role disseminating state/corporate propaganda duplicitously.
Early Life's Long Reach Forward
Submitted on February 17, 2012Can a parenting co-op in Cape Breton save the economy?
HALIFAX—A report released in January by the Canadian Paediatrics Society (CPS) outlines a simple adjustment in family services that would lead to an economic revolution in Canada, and it’s all about facilitating early childhood development.
Algonquins of Barriere Lake protest Indian Act outside Crown-First Nations Summit
Submitted on February 17, 2012The Algonquins of Barriere Lake (ABL) travelled to Ottawa on Jan.
Khader Adnan: 61 Days into Hunger Strike, Vigil calls on CBC to end the silence
Submitted on February 17, 2012As Khader Adnan, Palestinian political prisoner, entered his 61st day of hunger strike, Vancouver Palestine activists held a vigil and picket at the CBC building in downtown Vancouver, calling for CBC to end its silence about his case.
UofT's CUPE Three-Nine-O-Two Prepares to Strike Back
Submitted on February 16, 2012by Zach Ruiter
CUPE 3902 held a solidarity rally in front of Convocation Hall to loudly mark their presence as UofT President David Naylor met with the Governing Council somewhere inside.
CUPE 3902 has been in negotiations for eight months since their contract expired April 30th 2011.
North Enders Slam Proposed Telecom Tower
Submitted on February 16, 2012Residents voice concern over health effects and loss of green space
HALIFAX – About 60 people gathered in the gymnasium of Highland Park Junior High School this evening to voice their opposition to a proposal to build a 99-foot telecommunications tower across the street from the school.
Bill C-4: Anti-Human Smuggling or Anti-Refugee?
Submitted on February 16, 2012By Correy Baldwin - February 8, 2012
On August 13, 2010, a ship full of Tamil migrants arrived on the shores of British Columbia...all seeking asylum after enduring a desperate, four-month voyage on a cramped, unsanitary ship. Even before the boat arrived, the Conservative government labeled occupants as “criminals” and “terrorists”...This was the beginning of an aggressive campaign to rally support for harsh new anti-refugee legislation — a propaganda campaign built on disinformation, misleading rhetoric, disregard for the legal system, and some hefty stoking of public fear and misperceptions.
Ricky Lavallie (May 20, 1960 - January 3, 2012)
Submitted on February 16, 2012By Maryann Abbs - Vancouver Media Co-op
Ricky was very active in many social and environmental justice movements in Vancouver including struggles against residential schools, gentrification in the Downtown Eastside, the Olympics, as well as a supporter of indigenous self-determination. He seemed to be present at every march, demonstration, blockade and tent city. Most recently, Ricky camped out at Occupy Vancouver, and was known there for his music, storytelling, and caring heart. Ricky was always ready to step up and be present in the fight for social justice.
Makibaka! End Racism in the System!
Submitted on February 16, 2012Filipino Canadians Denounce Neo-Nazi Attacks and State Complacency
COAST SALISH TERRITORIES—About 50 people of colour and their allies rallied outside Vancouver Provincial Court Monday to protest racialized violence and its institutionalized roots. On trial are Robertson de Chazel and Alistair Miller, self-professed members of the international neo-Nazi group Blood and Honour.
"We've Shut it Down"
Submitted on February 16, 2012Head of Quebec Women's Federation on the blockade of the Montreal Stock Exchange
Hundreds of people participated in a major action in Montreal this morning, shutting down the Montreal Stock Exchange, the heart of the city's financial district, for several hours.
It’s Time We Recognized the Blair Government’s Criminality
Submitted on February 16, 2012By John Pilger - February 16, 2012
In the kabuki theatre of British parliamentary politics, great crimes do not happen and criminals go free. It is theatre after all; the pirouettes matter, not actions removed in distance and culture from their consequences. It is a secure arrangement guarded by cast and critics alike. The farewell speech of one of the most artful, Tony Blair, had “a sense of moral conviction running through it”...as if Blair’s appeal to Kabuki devotees was mystical. That he was a war criminal was irrelevant.
Tuesday CKUT OTH and NSN: Interview with Bridget Tolley, co-founder of Families of Sisters in Spirit
Submitted on February 16, 2012The plight of Newfoundland coastal communities
Submitted on February 16, 2012Professor Barbara Neis of Memorial University describes the catastrophic effects of the 1991 cod moratorium on the coastal communites of Newfoundland.
Tuesday CKUT OTH and NSN: Interview with Michelle Audette
Submitted on February 16, 2012Michele Audette is the president of Quebec Native women. Michele speaks about the role Quebec Native Women has played in advocating for the rights of Native women in Canada and challenging sexism and racism.
This report originally aired on CKUT's Off the Hour and Native Solidarity News on Tuesday, Febuary, 14th, 2012, 17-19h.
Big pharma and porn
Submitted on February 16, 2012Retired biology professor Renate Klein from the University of Melbourne, Australia describes the deep involvement of the pharmaceutical industry in the promotion and acceptance of porn sex as "normal" sex. As a feminist critic, Klein persuadingly argues the harmful effects of porn on women and society at large.
Tuesday OTH and NSN: Interview with Sue Martin, Co-Founder of Families of Sisters in Spirit
Submitted on February 16, 2012Sue Martin,the other co-founder of Families of Sisters in Spirit, speaks to Blueprint Project about her experience losing her daughter to domestic violence.
Tuesday OTH and NSN: Interview with Glady Radek, co-founder of Walk 4 Justice.
Submitted on February 16, 2012Phone interview with Glady Radek, co-founder of Walk 4 Justice talks about missing and murdered indigenous women in Canada, particularly along the highway of tears in BC and what th
Drummond Proposes Harris Style Cuts
Submitted on February 16, 2012Banker Proposes Massive Service Cutbacks for Ontario
Sudbury - Draconian cutbacks delivered by the Mike Harris Conservative government are back, or should be, according to economist Don Drummond.
Financial Oligarch Power Raping Greece
Submitted on February 15, 2012Greek citizens are being consigned to serfdom and deep poverty.
Mean-Spirited Republicans Want to Force Unemployed in U.S. to Work For Free
Submitted on February 15, 2012By Laura Clawson - February 12, 2012
...Florida and South Carolina have talked about forcing people to "volunteer" for their unemployment insurance benefits, only to be told it was against federal law. Now, Senate Republicans want to change federal law to allow states to pass such laws to require all long-term unemployed people to "volunteer" 20 hours a week to continue receiving benefits, with an additional bill...calling for them to spend 20 hours a week looking for work. Those requirements could be added to Republican efforts to allow drug testing requirements and to deny unemployment insurance to people who don't have high school diplomas.
Bored But Not Broken: Home, Home on the Range
Submitted on February 15, 2012By Mandy Hiscocks - February 15, 2012
Well, I've been here almost four weeks now, I'm all settled in and I've got the routine down. So now it's time for me to answer the question I get asked the most by folks on the outside: "So what do you do all day?"...Come, spend a day on Unit 2F, in the maximum security wing of Vanier with me!
Israeli Hanging Judge Sentences Khader Adnan to Death
Submitted on February 15, 2012On Monday, military Judge Moshe Tirosh rejected Adnan's appeal as expected. Israel wants him dead. In his 59th day without food, his life hangs by a thread.
From Despair to Resistance in Greece
Submitted on February 15, 2012By Panagiotis Sotiris - February 14, 2012
Greece is becoming the test site for an extreme case of neo-liberal social engineering. The terms of the new bailout package from the European Union, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund, the so-called ‘troika’, equal a carpet bombing of whatever is left of collective social rights and represent an extreme attempt to bring wage levels and workplace [conditions] back to the 1960s.
The Queasy Liberal
Submitted on February 15, 2012By JOSHUA SPERBER - February 15, 2012
...[L]iberals have a long history of allying with counter-revolutionary movements during revolutionary upheavals, and fascism was counter-revolution par excellence. While liberals bristle at fascism’s contempt for the rule of law, when it comes to protecting their investments the bourgeoisie will choose the police state over communist appropriation any day of the week...And as the state removes its gloves and increases its repression of...the small minority willing to put their necks on the line to try to improve the world, Chris Hedges has reminded us whose side liberals are on.
U.S.-Backed Regime Crushes Protest in Bahrain
Submitted on February 15, 2012By Bill Van Auken - 15 February 2012
The US-backed monarchy in the island Gulf state of Bahrain unleashed intense repression on Monday and Tuesday to break up demonstrations by thousands of workers and youth marking the first anniversary of the brutally crushed pro-democracy protests that began on February 14, 2011...These latest attacks come on top of a year of unrelenting repression. At least 60 people have been killed by security forces...Hundreds more are missing. Hundreds remain political prisoners and many have faced severe torture.
Obama, the Human Rights Hypocrite
Submitted on February 15, 2012By PAUL CRAIG ROBERTS - February 15, 2012
Washington is now in the second decade of murdering Muslim men, women, and children in six countries. Washington is so concerned with human rights that it drops bombs on schools, hospitals, weddings and funerals, all in order to uphold the human rights of Muslim people...One hundred thousand, or one million, dead Iraqis, four million displaced Iraqis, a country with destroyed infrastructure, and entire cities...bombed and burnt with white phosphorus into cinders is the proper way to show concern for human rights.
The Spirit Lives On
Submitted on February 14, 2012Women’s Memorial March bolstered by thousands; Sisters in Spirit finds new home
DOWNTOWN EASTSIDE - Kept out of the missing women’s inquiry, women’s and Aboriginal groups took to the streets for the 21st annual Women’s Memorial March in Vancouver on Feb. 14. Thousands joined the march to honour women who have gone missing or been murdered in the Downtown Eastside and across Canada.
Aafia Siddiqui's Struggle for Justice
Submitted on February 14, 2012America's racist police state laws condemned Aafia to virtual life in prison despite her innocence.
New Labour Reforms Hit Spain: Another Brutal Attack Against Workers' Rights
Submitted on February 14, 2012February 13 2012 - Libcom
On February 10, the government of Mariano Rajoy passed a series of reforms that will...make it easier and cheaper to fire workers, slash severance pay, introduce longer trial periods at work and force the unemployed to do public work...It is an insult to the intelligence to pretend that...making it cheaper and easier to fire people can create jobs...or that the best bet for job quality and modernization of collective bargaining is going back to the model of labor relations in the nineteenth century.
Euro Zone to Demand Still More Greek Cuts
Submitted on February 14, 2012By Nick Beams - 14 February 2012
Five years of recession and three years of austerity programs have not only shattered the Greek economy and the living standards of the people, the growth of mass opposition is now leading to the break-up of the existing political structures and parties...With parliamentary democracy openly disintegrating, the parliamentary parties themselves are beginning to unravel.
Women's Memorial March 2012
Submitted on February 14, 2012DOWNTOWN EASTSIDE - More than 4,000 people snaked through the DTES this afternoon on the 21st annual Women’s Memorial March honoring missing and murdered women.
Have a Heart
Submitted on February 14, 2012Hundreds of ATU strikers and allies walk from Dartmouth to Halifax, as union seeks binding arbitration
HALIFAX-DARTMOUTH — At the Dartmouth Sportsplex, members of ATU local 508, out on strike since Feb. 2, voted, almost to a person, to seek out binding arbitration as a means to end their stalemate with the city.
The Sportsplex hall, packed to capacity, appeared at the outset to house almost all of the 700-person membership.
Occupy Prisons
Submitted on February 14, 2012By VICTORIA LAW - Counterpunch
"...Each time a story of incarceration is shared, I hope we think of ALL who are in jail/prison. Regardless of what has led to our arrest and whether we have been held for ten hours, ten years, not yet, or never, the same oppressive system contains us. We all are offered dehumanization and brutality in the name of order, rehabilitation, deterrence or justice."
"Nobody Cared, Nobody Did Anything:" The Normalization of Violence Against Indigenous Women
Submitted on February 14, 2012By Audrey Huntley - rabble.ca
...[A]ll of the family members and friends I spoke to...had lost a loved one. Not only had they all experienced the devastation of loss by violence of someone precious, but they had also suffered from the treatment they experienced at the hands of those they went to for help. They were received with blatant racism at worst, passive indifference at best. Fearful and desperate for help in their search for their missing friend or family member, they had instead to endure insult upon injury.
U.S. Secret Armies Gear Up for Global War
Submitted on February 14, 2012By Bill Van Auken - WSWS
...US militarism has escalated dramatically under [Obama] and its tide threatens to engulf the entire planet...Among the latest indications is a behind-the-scenes campaign by the chief of the US military's Special Operations Command (SOCOM) for greater autonomy in dispatching elite killer squads to every corner of the globe...Adm. William McRaven, who heads SOCOM, is...seeking “more autonomy to position his forces and their war-fighting equipment where intelligence and global events indicate they are most needed.”
Questioning the tactic of "questioning the tactic" of wearing masks at demos
Submitted on February 14, 2012This is the first part to a series of commentary pieces centred around wearing masks at protests.
To mask or not to mask? That is the question, …*again*!?!
GroundWire February 14, 2012
Submitted on February 14, 2012GroundWire
Groundwire Episode Feb 12th 2012
_____________________________
This episode of GroundWire is produced by Jordan MacDonald at CHSR 97.9 FM in Fredericton, New Brunswick.
Headlines:
Say no to CSIS | Joel Barde
BC police complaint commission challenges B.C. supreme court order | Joel Barde
Features:
Ricky Lavallie Memorial
Submitted on February 13, 2012Eye in the Sky Spying on Americans
Submitted on February 13, 2012America is now a full-blown police state.
BBC: Caught in the Act
Submitted on February 13, 2012BBC airs state propaganda. Throughout its history, its been an imperial tool. It replicates the worst of America's major media.
Concerning the Violent Peace-Police
Submitted on February 13, 2012By David Graeber - February 9, 2012
...[T]he first reaction I normally get from pacifists is along the lines of “...Of course I’m not in favor of attacking anyone!...I am merely calling for non-violently confronting such elements and excluding them from the group!” The problem is that in practice this is almost never what actually happens...[W]hat it has actually meant in practice is either a) turning fellow activists over to the police...or b) actual physical activist-on-activist assault...There have been physical assaults by activists on other activists...by purported pacifists against...anarchists who adopt tactics someone else thinks are going too far.
Greek Parliament Votes for Sweeping Cuts
Submitted on February 13, 2012By Nick Beams - WSWS
More than a third of the nation is officially designated as living in poverty. Unemployment now exceeds one million people...The youth unemployment rate is close to 50 percent...Since the global financial crisis began in 2008, it is estimated that at least 20,000 people have been made homeless. People are sleeping on pavements, park benches, in train stations, shopping arcades and doorways. The Greek Orthodox Church says it is feeding 250,000 people a day.
Tensions Flare Over Vancouver-Owned Mine in Oaxaca
Submitted on February 13, 2012By Dawn Paley - Vancouver Media Co-op
The mine...went into production in late September 2011. Its opponents maintain that Fortuna Silver’s mine is the root of the social problems that plague the once peaceful region. In a press conference following the police shooting of Méndez Vásquez, mine opponents made it clear that they see a direct link between Fortuna Silver and the violence...“The social and political conflicts that have ended the lives of three people are due to the appearance of the mining company, without the consent of the people...”
Rally Shuns Sham Inquiry on Missing Women
Submitted on February 13, 2012
VANCOUVER - An all-day rally against the Missing Women Inquiry occupied the intersection of Georgia and Granville - one day before the annual Women's Memorial March. A circle of more than 100 people held quilt pieces bearing the names of missing and murdered women in BC.
Sudbury Social Justice News - February 13, 2012
Submitted on February 13, 2012EVENTS & MEETINGS:
1) Tuesday, February 14: Meeting of Justice and Freedom for John Moore
2) Thursday, February 16: Planning meeting for "Solidarity Against Austerity" rally and march
3) Thursday, February 16: Occupy Sudbury General Assembly
4) Thursday, February 16: Film Showing of "The World According to Monsanto"
Road to Damascus...and on to Armageddon?
Submitted on February 13, 2012By DIANA JOHNSTONE - February 13, 2012
Because, in the minds of our political ruling class, the United States has the power to “make reality”, we need pay no attention to the remnants of whatever reality we didn’t invent ourselves...Our artificial reality is coming into collision with the reality perceived by most or at least much of the rest of the world. The tenants of these conflicting views of reality are armed to the teeth, including with nuclear weapons capable of leaving the planet to insects.
U.S. Marine Snipers Used Nazi SS Logo
Submitted on February 13, 2012By Dan Lamothe - Thursday Feb 9, 2012
Marine Corps scout snipers used the logo of the notorious Nazi SS organization while in Afghanistan in 2010, the service acknowledged Thursday...The logo appeared on a flag in a photograph of the platoon taken in September 2010 in Sangin district, a hotly contested area in Helmand province. The Marines...are shown sitting in combat gear with the U.S. flag and a blue flag with the stylized “SS” logo hanging behind them.
No Love on Valentine's: Palestine Activists protest Lavan's Tainted Love
Submitted on February 13, 2012Athens Burns: Has Greece Entered Its Argentina Moment?
Submitted on February 13, 2012By Jérôme E. Roos - February 13, 2012
Exactly ten years ago, the crisis-ridden country of Argentina spiraled into a bout of social unrest that would eventually lead to the largest sovereign default in history. After three years of being forced to swallow the bitter pill of IMF-imposed austerity, a tipping point was finally reached: foreign creditors and neo-liberal governments had pushed the people too far. They rose up in defiance...With the incredible images of flame-engulfed buildings and policemen emerging out of Athens, it now looks like Greece may be headed down the same path.
CKUT's OTH: "Hey, Do You Use The Internet?"
Submitted on February 13, 2012Concordia Students Protest Bill C-11, The Canadian Version of SOPA
On Febuary 10th Nadim Kobeissi, a Concordia University student organized a demonstration against Bill C-11, which resembles that of SOPA in United states.
Harper's Reckless Foreign Policy in the Middle East
Submitted on February 13, 2012By Murray Dobbin - rabble.ca
It is hard to credit the latest statements and actions by Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird. On both Iran and Israel, Baird seems to almost deliberately seek to humiliate both himself and the country he is supposed to represent on the international stage...For Stephen Harper to let this crude and ignorant political storm trooper loose as our principal face to the world may only be understandable if we assume that everything Harper does is for a domestic audience. He simply doesn't care what the world thinks.
Tensions Flare over Vancouver-owned Mine in Oaxaca
Submitted on February 13, 2012Three dead and community divided over Fortuna Silver's gold and silver project
It's been almost three years since hundreds of Zapotec community members took direct action to temporarily shut down Vancouver-based Fortuna Silver's gold and silver mine just south of Oaxaca City, Mexico.
The Death of Whitney Houston
Submitted on February 13, 2012By Hiram Lee - 13 February 2012
One receives the news of Whitney Houston’s death at the age of 48 with genuine sadness. Houston was a tremendous singer, whose best performances contained a vibrancy and larger-than-life quality, which endeared her to millions of listeners. Her death at a young age is a tragedy...Houston had been struggling with addiction for years and there were reports that the singer was behaving erratically in the days leading up to Sunday’s Grammy Awards ceremony. She was clearly a troubled individual in need of serious help.
CKUT Radio: Ben White on Israeli Apartheid
Submitted on February 12, 2012an interview on the recent book Palestinians in Israel Segregation, Discrimination and Democracy
Listen to an interview with author/activist Ben White live in studio at CKUT radio, discussing his latest book "Palestinians in Israel: Segregation, Discrimination and Democracy" via Pluto Press.
* info at http://www.plutobooks.com/display.asp?K=9780745332284
Khader Adnan's Heroic Struggle for Justice
Submitted on February 12, 2012Saturday marked Khader Adnan's 56th hunger striking day. "My dignity is more precious than food," he said. He's willing to die courageously defending it.
Iran's Historic Anniversary
Submitted on February 12, 2012February 11 marked the 33rd anniversary of Iran's 1979 revolution. It ended a generation of repressive rule under Washington's installed Reza Shah Pahlavi.
Occupy and the Hostile Media
Submitted on February 12, 2012By Boots Riley - December 27, 2011
Every progressive movement in U.S. history was portrayed negatively by mainstream media at the time it was happening. It's no surprise that the media portray the Occupy Wall Street movement in the same light...The mainstream press is always on the wrong side of history because it's always on the side of the status quo, which is capitalist exploitation and oppression.
The Wheels on the Bus...
Submitted on February 12, 2012City buys anti-striker ads, ATU Prez suggests arbitration
HALIFAX — With Atlantic Transit Workers (ATU) Local 508 out on strike and CUPE 227, representing the Halifax Regional Water Commission employees, in a legal strike position, a solidarity rally was held by the Halifax-Dartmouth District Labour Council today at Grand Parade Square in Halifax.
"Radical, Reckless and Inhumane:" Experts Say New Mental Health Manual is "Dangerous"
Submitted on February 12, 2012By Kate Kelland - Thursday, February 9, 2012
Millions of healthy people - including shy or defiant children, grieving relatives and people with fetishes - may be wrongly labeled mentally ill by a new international diagnostic manual, specialists said on Thursday...In a damning analysis of an upcoming revision of the influential Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM), psychologists, psychiatrists and other experts said new categories of mental illness identified in the book were at best "silly" and at worst "worrying and dangerous."
The Philippine-American War: A War Anniversary the U.S. Wishes to Forget
Submitted on February 12, 2012By Emil Guillermo - February 4, 2012
February 4 marks the anniversary of a war America won — but doesn’t care to crow about. When the memory only produces shame and regret, you can understand why...Such is the fate of the Philippine-American War, otherwise known as the Philippine Insurrection, which began on Feb. 4, 1899...Insurrection doesn’t begin to describe the full-fledged war that lasted three years, with more than 100,000 Americans involved...[T]he Filipino civilian death toll ranged from 250,000 to as high as 1 million, counting those who died from disease or starvation.
Australia Lines Up with U.S. for War with China
Submitted on February 12, 2012By Peter Symonds - WSWS
An Australian defence posture report...is the latest sign of the Obama administration’s reckless and aggressive push against China on all fronts — diplomatic, economic and military...The interim review spells out the wide scope of the military agreement announced...by Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard and President Barack Obama. While the stationing of up to 2,500 Marines near the northern city of Darwin dominated the headlines, the deal provided for extensive access for American warships and warplanes to Australian naval and air bases.
Targeting Iran
Submitted on February 12, 2012By Ghali Hassan - Znet
Iran is unfairly accused of having an “ambition” to develop nuclear weapons and posing a “threat” to world peace and stability...To begin with, the allegation is a U.S.-Israel manufactured pretext promoted and disseminated by the mainstream Zionist media...For years, Iran has been the target of a vicious and hostile media campaign of distortion and demonization, including the demonization of Islam. The media coverage is the second front of the U.S.-Israel war against Iran...mirroring the media coverage in the lead-up to the U.S. aggression against Iraq.
A Radical History of the New Jewish Agenda
Submitted on February 12, 2012Interview with Ezra Nepon
Ezra Nepon is a Philadelphia-based activist and author who is currently raising money to publish a popular history book of the New Jewish Agenda.
NATO's Secret War on Syria
Submitted on February 11, 2012NATO special forces are helping killer gangs in Syria.
America's Sham Economic Recovery
Submitted on February 11, 2012Official government data are manipulated. Credibility's entirely lacking. Reported good news is hype. Grim underlying reality is suppressed.
Thomas Mulcair: Israel, Right or Wrong
Submitted on February 11, 2012By Sid Shniad and Fabienne Presentey - Independent Jewish Voices Canada
Thomas Mulcair is well known in Quebec. But except for readers of pro-Israel newspapers...people in Quebec and English Canada are not familiar with his unquestioning support for Israel...It is Mulcair’s single-minded support of Israel that has been a major factor behind the [New Democratic Party's] equivocation when it comes to supporting Palestinian human rights and applying international law to the Israel/Palestine conflict.
Opirg averts defunding crisis
Submitted on February 11, 2012A marathon University of Toronto Graduate Student Union (GSU) Council session has averted a looming showdown between the GSU and longtime ally Ontario Public Interest Research Group (Opirg) Toronto.
Rich London, Poor London: A Tale of Two Cities
Submitted on February 11, 2012By David Hewitt - Znet
As Britain celebrates the bicentenary of Charles Dickens...his works have arguably never been more popular...Driven by his own experiences of childhood poverty, the writer rallied against inequality, using his work to bring attention to what he regarded as some of the key social issues of his time: childhood poverty, rising inequality and high levels of unemployment. Given that these very same issues still dominate the news agenda in modern-day Britain, it’s only too tempting to speculate what Dickens would have made of London today.
Ongoing Atrocities by NATO-Installed Libyan Regime
Submitted on February 11, 2012By Will Morrow - 11 February 2012
The Libyan Transitional National Council (TNC) regime installed by the US-NATO intervention in Libya last year is responsible for ongoing atrocities, particularly against black-skinned Libyans, detainees and other alleged supporters of the previous Gaddafi government...Amnesty International and Doctors Without Borders have recently published statements protesting against the systematic abuse and torture of prisoners in detention centers controlled by the TNC and tribes.
Peruvian Lives on Canada's Conscience
Submitted on February 11, 2012By Tyler Shipley - February 10, 2012
Monday's crash, which occurred as the Peruvian workers were returning home in a 15-passenger van from work on an Ontario chicken farm, killed 11 passengers and left the remaining three in critical condition. These kinds of vans are cheap and usually carry more workers than would a more expensive truck or SUV. They have also been described as "death traps" and have been investigated and banned in several states and provinces for failing to meet safety standards.
Why MIA Was Right to Give America the Finger at the Super Bowl
Submitted on February 11, 2012By Julianne Escobedo Shepherd - February 10, 2012
...[F]or a young, rebellious pop starlet, the Superbowl halftime stage is the perfect place to drum up controversy. And controversy is what followed when the singer-rapper-artist M.I.A....looked into the camera and flipped the bird to 111.3 million viewers, while rapping the line, “Imma say this once/yeah/I don’t give a shit”...and so America got a huge dose of brown-girl disdain in the form of a beautifully rounded manicure and a traditional South Asian wedding bracelet.
Gaza: Isolated Under Siege
Submitted on February 10, 2012Under repressive occupation, Military Orders govern virtually all aspects of life. Freedom is entirely restricted. Police state authority runs Palestine.
Pentagon Plans U.S.-Backed War Against Syria
Submitted on February 10, 2012By Chris Marsden - 10 February 2012
The Pentagon has drawn up plans for military intervention in Syria...A military strike would be coordinated with Turkey, the Gulf States and the NATO powers, according to reports that acknowledge such plans officially for the first time. The plan is described as an “internal review” by Pentagon Central Command, to allow President Barack Obama to maintain the pretense that the White House is still seeking a diplomatic solution.
Murdering Khadar Adnan
Submitted on February 10, 2012Adnan's a political prisoner hunger striking against gross Israeli repression and injustice.
Should Occupy Use Violence? (I Dunno, Should the Cops?)
Submitted on February 10, 2012By KEVIN CARSON - Counterpunch Weekend Edition
In the official narrative, the question always concerns whether anyone and everyone but the state should engage in violence...That’s a shame. The state is not a mystical entity, a sum greater than the human beings making it up. The state is simply a group of human beings cooperating for common purposes...And violent actions by an association of individuals who call themselves “the state” have no more automatic legitimacy than violent actions by associations of individuals who call themselves “the Ku Klux Klan” or “al Qaeda.”
Where It Goes, Somebody Knows...
Submitted on February 10, 2012Pictou County Watershed Coalition gets conflicting stories as to final resting place of Boat Harbour dredge
Pictou, Nova Scotia – The Abercrombie Point Pulp and Paper Mill in Pictou, Nova Scotia, has woven itself a tangled web indeed.
How a Tragic "Soccer Riot" May Have Revived the Egyptian Revolution
Submitted on February 10, 2012By Dave Zirin - February 7, 2012
“[T]his disaster played a role in uniting the fans of all clubs. It might be a turning point in ending intolerance and hatred in Egyptian football. I will go to the Ahly club along with my teammates to offer our condolences to the families of Port Said martyrs. The fans of Ahly are my brothers. I hope Ahly and Zamalek fans can sit together in the stands without barriers.”
- Zamalek winger Mahmoud Abdel-Razek (also known as Shikabala), Egypt’s top soccer player.
Act Up Against ACTA
Submitted on February 10, 2012ACTA will destroy Internet freedom as we know it.
Toronto Municipal Union Accepts Mayor Ford’s Layoff and Concessions Contract
Submitted on February 10, 2012By Carl Bronski - WSWS
This past Sunday negotiators for 6,000 outside Toronto municipal workers accepted the “framework” for a concessions-laden contract that guts job security protections won over several decades of struggle...The leadership of the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) was anxious to isolate and suppress any struggle...So anxious that National President Paul Moist flew into Toronto on the weekend to press for a quick sell-out agreement...[T]he deal has yet to be released to the membership for a contract vote.
Why the NDP Silence on Palestine?
Submitted on February 10, 2012By Stefan Christoff - February 10, 2012
Difficult questions on Palestine need to be raised within the [New Democratic Party]...Why are NDP leadership candidates seriously out-of-step with the grassroots left in Canada on Palestine?...Why is the NDP not taking a more active role to support the boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement as a clear and practical method to work for peace in Palestine and Israel?...Why do NDP politicians continue to perpetuate the myth of Canada as an "honest broker" on Palestine/Israel?
Endangered Turtles and Sharks Lose Out in MSC Longline Swordfish Certification Decision
Submitted on February 10, 2012For immediate release
9 February 2012
HALIFAX—Sustainable seafood advocates were disappointed by yesterday’s decision to allow the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) to eco-certify the Canadian longline swordfish fishery that is responsible for high bycatch of sharks and endangered sea turtles.
Imperialism, Despotism and Democracy in Syria
Submitted on February 9, 2012By Joseph Massad - 06 Feb 2012
The monumental loss of Iraqi lives and the destruction of their country as well as the ongoing destruction and killings in Libya belie the Syrian exile opposition's call for imperial invasion of Syria as the way to peace, democracy and to stop the ongoing carnage in the country. One wonders why the Bahraini and Yemeni oppositions have never called for an imperial invasion of their countries to liberate them from their equally despotic rulers. Nor have West Bank and Gaza Palestinians...ever demanded an imperial invasion to liberate them from Israel.
Vancouver Seniors Fight 45 Per Cent Rent Hike
Submitted on February 9, 2012By Lauren Gill - Vancouver Media Co-op
Low-income tenants at the Lions Manor...are facing a forced 45% rent increase. The increase in rent means that many of the tenants will no longer be able to afford to live there, and with the unaffordability of our city are facing possible homelessness. This morning the tenants in conjunction with the newly formed Vancouver Renters Union, took matters into their own hands, holding a press conference and rally. The tenants, some of them who have been living there for over 15 years, spoke about the impacts that this rent increase would have on their lives.
Israelis Should be Afraid of their Leaders, Not Iran
Submitted on February 9, 2012By Gideon Levy - February 5, 2011, 2012
And so we have entered the time of fear. The time has come to admit it, even to encourage it. Israel has not been led by cowards for a long time, the type whose fear caused them to act wisely and cautiously. For far too long now Israel has been headed by heroes, the kind who don't hesitate to take the country on yet another dangerous, purposeless adventure. We must tell them now, loudly: We are a-f-r-ai-d.
Trans People Excluded from Transportation By Harper Ammendment
Submitted on February 9, 2012The Harper govenments ammendment states that "5.2 (1) An air carrier shall not transport a passenger if … (c) the passenger does not appear to be of the gender indicated on the identification he or she presents"
The Harper government introduced an amendment to the aeronautic act in August 2011, which seems to target Trans people, stating that the gender they seem to be and the gender they present on their passport must match, making
Seniors battle Lions' 45% rent hike
Submitted on February 9, 2012EAST VANCOUVER - Residents at the Mount Pleasant Lions Manor are fighting a 45% rent hike that could leave them homeless. Seniors at the housing complex held a press conference today on their fight against the non-profit Mt Pleasant Housing Society (which owns the building and is run by the Lions Club).
Civil disobedience and the elderly
Submitted on February 9, 2012Old people participate in opposition to Keystone:
Betty Freeman, aged 84 and Pat Wilson aged 77, two Montrealers, discuss their lives of political engagement in the fight for social justice. In October 2011, both women participated in a large civil disobedience action in Ottawa against the proposed construction of the Keystone XL Pipeline
Seniors in Solidarity Against 45% Rent Hike
Submitted on February 9, 2012American Actor Ben Gazzara (1930-2012)
Submitted on February 9, 2012By David Walsh - WSWS
Gazzara’s intensity and his unusual combination of toughness and sensitivity attracted directors for more than half a century. Among [those] he worked with, in addition to [John] Cassavetes, were Otto Preminger, Mario Monicelli, Franklin J. Schaffner, Phil Karlson, Stuart Rosenberg, Peter Bogdanovich, David Mamet, Vincent Gallo, the Coen brothers, Todd Solondz, John Turturro, Spike Lee, Mira Nair, Lars von Trier and Sergey Bondarchuk. Not all of them served him well, but there is no indication that Gazzara ever gave less than a wholehearted performance.
Labour Councils Occupy Select Conservative MP Offices in Ontario
Submitted on February 9, 2012Group Demands Accountability Over Threats to Old Age Security and Pensions
(Audio interview begins aprox four seconds after you click play)
The Surgeons of Occupy
Submitted on February 9, 2012By PETER GELDERLOOS - February 09, 2012
The medical language of Hedges’ title, referring to the anarchists as a “cancer,” should immediately ring alarm bells. Portraying one’s opponents as a disease has long been a tactic of the state and the media to justify the repression. This language was used against the Native Americans, against the Jews, against communists, and many others. Recently the police and the right wing used this same language of hygiene to talk about the occupations around the country as health threats so as to justify their eviction and generate disgust and repulsion.
Defence Lawyer Reflects on the G20 Conspiracy Case
Submitted on February 9, 2012By Peter Rosenthal - February 8, 2012
...[I]t's my view that prosecutors would have had real difficulties establishing that the talk at G20 activist meetings attended by undercover officers provided sufficient evidence for a verdict of conspiracy..."[T]he real crimes committed on the G20 weekend were the conspiracies of some G20 leaders to continue wars, such as those against the people of Afghanistan and Iraq, and to continue the economic oppression of most of the world."
Iran: A Manufactured Threat
Submitted on February 8, 2012Iran attacked no other country in over 200 years. It threatens none now. It's neighbors know it. So do Washington and Israel. Nonetheless, saber rattling warnings continue. At issue is making an independent state a client one. It's why Washington orchestrated Syria's insurgency and continues anti-Iranian propaganda.
Targeting Syria and Iran
Submitted on February 8, 2012Slowed but not derailed by Russia and China vetoing its Security Council resolution, America's regime change/war plans remain on track.
Talk the Talk, but Wach the Walk?
Submitted on February 8, 2012Petroscience prof Dr. Grant Wach's talk provides history of Maritimes oil and gas, but misses context
It is difficult to pinpoint exactly what it is about Dr. Grant Wach's presentation, titled “Burning Rocks: The History of the Petroleum Industry in Canada and the Maritimes”, that lingers awkwardly in the stuffy air of the basement auditorium of the Museum of Natural History in Halifax. It is clear, from the outset, that Wach knows his topic inside and out.
Greek Government Agrees to Savage Cuts, But 'Troika' Demands More
Submitted on February 8, 2012By Robert Stevens - 8 February 2012
Talks held Tuesday night between the three parties making up the Greek government of Prime Minister Lucas Papademos failed to finalize the cuts demanded of it in return for a €130 billion rescue package...The talks between the social democratic PASOK party, the conservative New Democracy and the neo-fascist LAOS broke up after the three parties reached agreement on a new round of savage attacks on social services, jobs and wages, but failed to adopt the full range of cuts demanded by the so-called “troika”...
Economic Recovery? What Recovery?
Submitted on February 8, 2012Reporting it doesn't make it so. In fact, it's more illusion than fact, but that doesn't surprise half of US households impoverished or bordering on it, according to recent US Census data.
#6party Communique Re: Dialogue and Occupation
Submitted on February 8, 2012The tactic of occupation has been cast in a negative light in multiple fora, including Provost Masi's notice to the #6party and first floor occupiers last evening.
The Framing of Kevin Cooper, on San Quentin’s Death Row: An Interview with J. Patrick O’Connor
Submitted on February 8, 2012In this interview, author J. Patrick O’Connor discusses his newly released book Scapegoat: The Chino Hills Murders and The Framing of Kevin Cooper, explaining why he is convinced of Kevin Cooper’s innocence. O’Connor asserts that the police and prosecution orchestrated an obvious frame-up that continues to be upheld by federal appeals courts, albeit with the blatantly unfair rulings by US District Court Judge Marilyn Huff blocking critical forensics tests that had been ordered by the US Ninth Circuit Court in 2004.
Syria and the Seeds of World War
Submitted on February 8, 2012By Bill Van Auken - WSWS
The Russian-Chinese veto of a UN resolution paving the way for intervention in Syria has provoked a furious reaction from the United States and its imperialist allies...Morality and human rights have nothing to do with it. The outrage heard from Washington and the capitals in Western Europe is over the failure of Moscow and Beijing to line up behind US imperialism’s strategy for re-organizing the world in its own interest and that of the financial elite.
Surprise Resignation Party for Morton Mendelson
Submitted on February 8, 2012McGill University's Deputy Provost is asked to resign by students occupying his office
On the moring of Febuary 7th, 20 McGill students occupied the 6th floor of the James Administration building on McGill campus. They called the event a "Morton Mendelson Surprise Resignation Party".
Joint No One Is Illegal Response to Jason Kenney’s Staged Citizenship Ceremony
Submitted on February 8, 2012February 7th, 2012
Jason Kenney...is making headlines again with yet another parliamentary scandal...Kenney’s office organized a bogus citizenship ceremony broadcast on Sun Media...This is the latest in a series of political scandals surrounding Kenney...While these news-worthy scandals highlight the wheeling-and-dealing and corruption within Kenney’s office, we are troubled by the lack of anger and outrage at the real scandal in Kenney’s office: the racist tokenization of immigrant communities to mask increasingly repressive anti-migrant policies.
Is Organized Labour Doomed?
Submitted on February 8, 2012By Bruce Livesey - rabble.ca
I predict unions will increasingly become irrelevant as long as they retain the old form of union structure and mentality. A return to a more militant, action-oriented and community-based form of unionism will be the only long-term remedy to the labour movement's survival. Otherwise, what happened to the Electro-Motive and City of Toronto workers will become the norm and unions will become even more anachronistic than they already are.
A Bustle in Hedges’ Row
Submitted on February 8, 2012By RANDALL AMSTER - Counterpunch
You would be hard-pressed to find anyone on the American Left who has not either benefited from or been influenced by the writings of Chris Hedges. His is a singular and potent voice of progressive journalism, combining the best virtues of diligent reporting and unabashed advocacy for a better world...All of which makes his latest piece so disturbing...Hedges calls out the anarchist-influenced Black Bloc as “the cancer of the Occupy movement,” and in the process vilifies with a broad brush an entire class of activists and anarchists...accusing them of “hijacking” and/or seeking to destroy Occupy and other progressive movements.
Don't call it an occupation: Students take over McGill admin offices for surprise-resignation party
Submitted on February 8, 2012Scroll down for latest update.
Since Tuesday morning, a group of McGill University students have been holding a “surprise resignation party” for one of the school's high ranking administrators – in his own office.
Israeli Political Prisoner Khader Adnan Near Death
Submitted on February 7, 2012Thousands of Palestinian political prisoners languish in Israeli prisons. Virtually daily, more arrests are made. Those incarcerated face torture, appalling prison conditions, and other forms of abuse.
Strengthening U.S.-Canada Security Interests in North America and Around the Globe
Submitted on February 7, 2012By Dana Gabriel
Whether it’s the perimeter security deal, the ongoing mission in Afghanistan or the bombing campaign that took place in Libya, the U.S. and Canada continue to enhance security and military cooperation. Under Prime Minister Stephen Harper, both countries have further deepened their defense relationship. In addition, Canada has pursued a more U.S.-style foreign policy.
Closed to the Community, But Open for Business
Submitted on February 7, 2012Botched sale of St.-Pat's-Alexandra school a provincial trend
When a school is closed or given over to private developers, affected communities cry foul, and cry loudly.
From Van City to the Oakland Commune
Submitted on February 7, 2012I arrived in Oakland late in the afternoon on January 30th, 2012. When I arrived I began frantically trying to contact my friends, as I had limited ability to do this in the day before I headed to the Bay Area and I was having trouble finding a place to stay.
None of my friends were answering.
Australian Intelligence Agencies Prepare for Political Upheaval
Submitted on February 7, 2012By Mike Head - 6 February 2012
For all the Labor government’s claims that the Australian economy is relatively shielded from the renewed global financial turmoil, there is palpable anxiety within the security establishment about the political impact of mounting job cuts, glaring inequality and worsening social distress, leading to stepped-up surveillance and preparations for state repression.
The Heroes of Super Bowl Sunday
Submitted on February 7, 2012By Dave Zirin - February 6, 2012
Seeing the arrogant and the entitled get knocked down a peg is always welcome. But in the real world it doesn’t mean a damn just because one arrogant and entitled owner’s box cheers, while another weeps. It happens because people around the country are standing up and saying, "Enough is enough." In Indianapolis, it happened because people heroically dared to be heard on a day when everyone told them to just shut up and watch the game.
Greece Default Closer Amid Warnings of "Social Explosion"
Submitted on February 6, 2012By Nick Beams - WSWS
The [austerity] measures are believed to include a 25 percent cut in the minimum private sector wage and a 35 percent reduction in supplementary pensions...The cut in the minimum wage would see a reduction from about $1,000 per month to $750, approximately the same level as in Portugal. This will have a devastating impact on wide layers of the population in conditions where consumer prices are relatively high...Unemployment in Greece is already 20 percent, businesses are closing every day and homelessness is on the rise.
America's Racist Drug Laws
Submitted on February 6, 2012America's racist war on drugs disproportionately targets people of color and ethnic minorities. They comprise 75% of those in prison on drug related charges.
Les femmes résistent à l'exploitation par les minières canadiennes… pour la défense de la Terre-Mère
Submitted on February 6, 2012Journée internationale des femmes 2012
Séminaires, ateliers et activités culturelles
Le dimanche 4 mars prochain, de 9 h à 16h30
Au 6767 Côte-des-Neiges, Montréal.
Montréal, 5 février 2012 - Les femmes jouent un rôle crucial au Canada et à travers le monde, pour résister au développement agressif et à l’exploitation croissante perpétrés par les minières canadiennes.
Author of "The Corporation" Takes on Ugly Side of Facebook (Review)
Submitted on February 6, 2012By Mat Ward - Green Left Weekly
Parents who read Joel Bakan's new book, Childhood Under Siege, may find themselves un-liking Facebook...In it, the law professor ― whose previous book The Corporation was made into Canada's biggest-grossing documentary ― describes the effect of the social media giant's applications on his 13-year-old daughter...It is just one example...of corporations tapping into what makes children tick.
U.S. War Provocations Against Syria
Submitted on February 6, 2012By Alex Lantier - 6 February 2012
Washington and its imperialist allies in Europe are escalating preparations for a full-scale military intervention in Syria. Coming after last year’s NATO war against Libya and threats of a sudden Israeli attack on Iran, Syria’s main regional ally, it is clear that Washington aims to reshape the Middle East by forcibly installing pro-US regimes throughout the region.
Wall Street’s Secret Spy Center, Run for the 1 Per Cent by the NYPD
Submitted on February 6, 2012By PAM MARTENS - Counterpunch
“New York City has a long and troubled history of police surveillance of individuals and groups engaged in lawful political protest and dissent. Between 1904 and 1985 the [New York Police Department] compiled some one million intelligence files on more than 200,000 individuals and groups — suspected communists, Vietnam War protesters, health and housing advocates, education reform groups, and civil rights activists.”
- New York Civil Liberties Union (NYCLU)
Russia and China Veto Syria Resolution
Submitted on February 5, 2012Shortly before 1PM EST, Reuters headlined, "Russia, China veto UN resolution telling Assad to quit," saying: The diplomatic "setback" came the day after "Syrian opposition (elements) accused Assad's forces of killing hundreds of people (in) Homs, the bloodiest night in the 11 months of upheaval in the pivotal Arab country."
Security Council Showdown on Syria
Submitted on February 5, 2012Slowly things are coming to a head. America, Israel, rogue NATO partners, and regional despot allies are itching for a fight with Syria. Russia and China stand firmly opposed.
BDS is Nazism and Omar Barghouti is Hitler: Shocking Smear by UPenn Professor
Submitted on February 5, 2012By Ali Abunimah - The Electronic Intifada
Comparing Omar Barghouti to Hitler and Jews and others who support human rights for Palestinians to Jewish collaborators at Nazi extermination camps is sickening...It is not only deeply defamatory against its targets but...[is] a form of Holocaust denial. Comparing a student conference at UPenn to a Nazi death camp says effectively that Nazi death camps were nothing more harmful than a student conference.
Interview with Toghestiy part 1
Submitted on February 5, 2012against pipelines
For more info :
part 2 :
An Attack On Tehran Would Be Madness (So Don't Rule It Out)
Submitted on February 5, 2012By Robert Fisk - February 05, 2012
Nine years after invading Iraq...we plan to clap our hands as Israel bombs Iran because of more unprovable "weapons of mass destruction". Now I don't doubt that within seconds of hearing the news, Barack Obama's grotesque speech-writers will be groveling to find the right words to support such an Israeli attack. If Obama can abandon Palestinian freedom and statehood for his own re-election, he can certainly support Israeli aggression in the hope that this will get him back in the White House.
City of Brotherly Love Event Promotes War and Hate
Submitted on February 5, 2012Alan Dershowitz is a shameless bigot, a longstanding Islamophobe, a perverter of fundamental US and international law, an advocate of war, torture, targeted assassinations, and collective punishment, as well as a committed Zionist and apologist for Israel's worst crimes.
New York Cops Shoot and Kill Three Young, Black Men in One Week
Submitted on February 5, 2012By Jorge Rivas - Colorlines
Ramarley Graham, 18, was shot and killed by a NYPD officer in the Bronx on Thursday afternoon after running into his home as undercover officers pursued him. He’s the third person the NYPD have killed in a week. According to the police spokesperson, he was unarmed.
Israel Threatens War Against Iran Within Months
Submitted on February 5, 2012By Peter Symonds - WSWS
Even as the US and its European allies intensify punitive economic sanctions against Iran, there are growing signs that Israel is threatening military strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities in the coming months. While the Obama administration has cautioned Israel against military action at this stage, there is no indication that Washington has vetoed such an attack.
Benefit Cuts Fueling Abuse of Disabled People in Britain
Submitted on February 5, 2012Sunday 5 February - The Guardian
The government's focus on alleged fraud and over-claiming to justify cuts in disability benefits has caused an increase in resentment and abuse directed at disabled people, as they find themselves being labeled as scroungers, six of the country's biggest disability groups have warned...Some of the charities say they are now regularly contacted by people who have been taunted on the street about supposedly faking their disability and are concerned the climate of suspicion could spill over into violence or other hate crimes.
War and Peace: Illusions of Partnership at Conservative-First Nations Gathering
Submitted on February 5, 2012By Pamela Palmater - rabble.ca
...[T]he way in which the gathering unfolded really showed how little consideration the Conservatives have for First Nations. The whole event was entirely controlled by the Conservatives, in terms of the rushed date, the very restricted agenda, the attendees, location, speakers, and timing. More than that, the entire meeting was steeped in symbolism, none of which reflected our peoples, Nations and histories, but was representative of the dictatorial and confrontational stance of the Conservatives vis-a-vis our Nations.
Decolonizing Anarchism
Submitted on February 5, 2012Interview with author Maia Ramnath
Maia Ramnath is an author and anarchist activist based in New York City. Her latest book is called "Decolonizing Anarchism: An anti-authoritarian history of India's liberation struggle", published by AK Press.
Day of Solidarity with Leonard Peltier
Submitted on February 5, 2012The beating of a drum circle broke the stillness of noontime on February 4 2012, as a crowd of around 75 demonstrators marched to the American consulate to demand the freedom of imprisoned indigenous activist Leonard Peltier.
Why Protests Should Be a Part of Super Bowl Sunday
Submitted on February 4, 2012By Dave Zirin - February 3, 2012
This Sunday, the greatest multitude in the history of the United States will be tuning into the same television show at the same time...Popularity plus polarization will mean epic ratings. It also means a pox of sponsors branding Indianapolis’s Lucas Oil Field within an inch of its life. But while the high rollers will party down and Fortune 500 companies will have an unparalleled audience, the city of Indianapolis will reel under the weight of our national party.
Say No to War
Submitted on February 4, 2012A powerful anti-war indictment by Wolfgang Borchert: German, author, playwright, poet. His experience under Hitler and Wehrmacht service changed his life. Never a Nazi supporter, he deplored compulsory Hitler Youth time. Finally he got out. In 1940, the Gestapo arrested, then released him. His Wehrmacht conscription suspended his young theatrical career.
Walid Hanatsheh: Palestinian Prisoner of Conscience
Submitted on February 4, 2012The Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association calls Walid Hanatsheh "a human rights defender who is currently in administrative detention." As Health Work Committees (HWC) Finance and Administration Manager, he helped "provide necessary health-care to over 500,000" Palestinians.
Aggression Born of American "Exceptionalism"
Submitted on February 4, 2012By HIROAKI SATO - Monday, Jan. 30, 2012
As [former US President George W.] Bush pushed his intent to attack Iraq...some advised that the U.S. assume the role that Britain played from the 19th to the early 20th century. The U.S. is powerful and enlightened enough, the argument went, to relegate those benighted, ne'er-do-well Middle Eastern countries back into colonial status and rule them as lord and master.
Against conspiracy theories: Why our activism must be based in reality
Submitted on February 4, 2012Reposted from Aotearoa IndyMedia
The text of a talk given at Occupy Wellington, New Zealand, on October 27 2011. Around 55 people attended the talk, organised to try to counter the prevalence of conspiracy theories amongst the local wing of the Occupy movement.
Survival, Strength, Sisterhood: Power of Women in the Downtown Eastside
Submitted on February 4, 2012"Survival, Strength, Sisterhood: Power of Women in the Downtown Eastside" is a short film that documents the 20 year history of the annual women's memorial march for missing and murdered women in Vancouver, Coast Salish Territories.
Caterpillar to Close Ontario Locomotive Plant Where Workers Resisted Wage Cut
Submitted on February 4, 2012By Keith Jones - 4 February 2012
Caterpillar subsidiary Electro-Motive Diesel (EMD) has announced that it is transforming the lockout at its London, Ontario diesel-locomotive manufacturing facility into a plant closure...Six weeks ago, Caterpillar locked out the 465 production workers at its London plant after they overwhelmingly rejected the company's demands for a 55 percent wage cut, the elimination of their pension plan, and other sweeping concessions.
Professionals and Torturers
Submitted on February 4, 2012By Justin Podur - February 04, 2012
Soldiers and police come from the same society as the crowds. Why do they kill them? Why are elites and authorities able to rest so comfortably in the knowledge that in the final analysis, thousands of armed men will do what they are told? I think this is one of the most important questions we can ask, and not enough of us ask it.
Australian Constitutional Proposals Will Worsen Aboriginal Oppression
Submitted on February 3, 2012By Mike Head - WSWS
A 22-person panel appointed by the Gillard [Labor] government released a report last month proposing changes to the Australian constitution that would purportedly give the federal government new powers for the “advancement” of indigenous people. Far from addressing the appalling social conditions of ordinary indigenous Australians, the amendments would authorize the imposition of regressive programs that will only worsen the plight of Aboriginal people.
Four Reasons to Watch the Super Bowl
Submitted on February 3, 2012By Robert Lipsyte - Znet Commentary
...[Y]ou might think, even in passing, that celebrating the holiest day of violence, consumerism, and class warfare on your couch is a betrayal of your values or a waste of your time. You might even imagine that it would be better to take a hike, read a book, or meditate...Not this Sunday, buster...You need to watch this game to fully understand how jobs, religion, leadership, and health-care dominate every American contest.
Israeli Settlements: An Obstacle to Peace
Submitted on February 3, 2012Israel and America deplore peace.
Hundreds Die from the Cold in Eastern Europe
Submitted on February 3, 2012By Markus Salzmann - 3 February 2012
The wave of cold weather that has swept over large parts of Europe has resulted in the deaths of hundreds of people in eastern Europe within the space of a few days...The real death toll is likely to be much higher. Initial statistics concentrate on urban areas and neglect the large proportion of the population, often elderly and poor, living in the countryside.
New York Times-Style Journalism
Submitted on February 3, 2012Like other major media scoundrels, New York Times writers, op-ed commentators and editorials fail the test. They're biased, shameless and irresponsible, especially on issues of war and peace.
Will Canada’s Social-Democratic Party be Able to Prevent a Leadership Coup?
Submitted on February 3, 2012By Greg Felton - Dissident Voice
As it stands, the [New Democratic Party] is the only major national party not led by an avowed Zionist...The NDP, therefore, is the only apparently Canadian governing choice that voters have, but even this modest fig leaf will be blown away if the blatant Israel-firster Thomas Mulcair becomes party leader. On May 1, 2008, he told Canadian Jewish News: “I am an ardent supporter of Israel in all situations and in all circumstances.”
Save On Meets Opposition
Submitted on February 2, 2012DOWNTOWN EASTSIDE - Members of the DTES Not For Developers Coalition have raked a local restaurateur over the coals. Mark Brand, owner of several upscale venues including Save On Meats, showed up at a Coalition planning session at Carnegie Community Centre today.
Saying No to CSIS: Groups Launch Campaign to Not Co-operate with Canada's Spy Agency
Submitted on February 2, 2012By Tim McSorley - The Dominion
Nearly 70 groups across Canada have joined a campaign to no longer co-operate with the work of Canada's national spy agency, and are calling on others to join them...Coalition groups are urging that their members not interact with CSIS agents should they be approached. This includes answering questions or even listening to what the agents have to say. Legally, Canadian citizens can refuse to speak or even listen to CSIS agents; for others, the coalition suggests only interacting with CSIS with a lawyer present.
Former U.S. Policymakers Promote War on Iran
Submitted on February 2, 2012In 2007, former Senators Howard Baker, Tom Daschle, Bob Dole, and George Mitchell established their Bipartisan Policy Center (BPC) imperial project front group.
U.S. Intelligence Agencies and Media Stoke War Drive Against Iran
Submitted on February 2, 2012By Alex Lantier - WSWS
Provocative testimony by US officials at a January 31 US Senate Intelligence Committee hearing has become the focus of a media campaign, accusing Iran of posing a terrorist threat to the United States...The hearing and its reception in the media resemble nothing so much as the preparation of the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Then, as now, crude fabrications about threats from weapons that do not exist...are combined with manufactured allegations of terrorist activity to whip up a media frenzy.
The Problem With "Pro Democracy" Groups
Submitted on February 2, 2012By MARK WEISBROT - Counterpunch
I have to laugh when I see the International Republican Institute (IRI) described by the international media as an organization that “promote[s] democracy”...The IRI is an international arm of the U.S. Republican Party, so anyone with the stomach to watch the Republican presidential debates might doubt whether this is a “democracy-promotion” organization. But a look at some of their recent adventures is enough to set the record straight...
The Assange Case Means That We Are All Suspects Now
Submitted on February 2, 2012By John Pilger - February 02, 2012
This week’s [British] Supreme Court hearing in the Julian Assange case has profound meaning for the preservation of basic freedoms in western democracies. This is Assange’s final appeal against his extradition to Sweden to face allegations of sexual misconduct...The consequences, if he loses, lie not in Sweden but in the shadows cast by America’s descent into totalitarianism. In Sweden, he is at risk of being “temporarily surrendered” to the US where his life has been threatened and he is accused of “aiding the enemy” with Bradley Manning...
Hacked Neo-Nazi Websites Reveal Canadian Connections
Submitted on February 2, 2012February 1, 2012 - CBC News
"If it can be determined that any of these individuals carried out these acts, because they were fully aware that they were interfering with the survival of an endangered race, then they should indeed be exterminated..."
- Bill Noble, convicted of willfully promoting hatred in 2008, reacts to news that thousands of emails concerning his white supremacist views, legal woes, infidelity, and details of his on-line dating were exposed by anti-racist hackers.
Bored But Not Broken: Liberation
Submitted on February 2, 2012By Mandy Hiscocks - February 2, 2012
G20 political prisoner Mandy Hiscocks provides helpful information on the parole process and explains why she won't be applying for it.
The Morris Building Project: Answering the Question of Housing for Homeless Youth
Submitted on February 2, 2012One historic building's hopeful transformation from dramatic demolition to community youth housing
It takes a village to raise a child, but does it take a village to raise a house?
According to the Morris Building Project, an exciting up-and-coming project which seeks to provide environmentally responsible affordable housing for Halifax youth, it does.
ATU Early Morning Picket
Submitted on February 2, 2012Dartmouth, Nova Scotia - With backed up traffic along the MacDonald bridge as their backdrop, members of ATU local 508 and their supporters this morning staged their first strike rally at the Dartmouth Transit Terminal.
Freedom for Leonard Peltier by John Graham
Submitted on February 2, 2012in the context of an international rally in support of Leonard Peltier (february 4th)
for more info :
http://www.whoisleonardpeltier.info/04FebSolidarity.htm
http://www.grahamdefense.org/
Torture in Libya: The Ugly Reality of Imperialist "Liberation"
Submitted on February 1, 2012By Bill Van Auken - WSWS
It is just over 100 days since the lynch-mob murder of Libya’s former ruler Muammar Gaddafi...At the time, President Barack Obama took to the White House Rose Garden to hail the assassination as the advent of “a new and democratic Libya”...The evidence and testimony provided by aid groups and human rights organizations over the past week paint a very different picture. A criminal imperialist war that ended with a brutal murder has, unsurprisingly, yielded a regime of terror, torture and repression.
University of Ottawa Systemic Racism and Abuse
Submitted on February 1, 2012On June 3, 2008, former Canadian politician/UN ambassador/pro-Israeli flack Allan Rock became U of O president. His administration has been marked by secrecy, political censorship, abuse of students and faculty, and repudiation of fundamental university values.
Khader Adnan Mohammad Musa: Israeli Prisoner of Conscience
Submitted on February 1, 2012On December 17, 2011, at 3:30 AM, dozens of Israeli soldiers stormed Khader Adnan Mohammad Musa's home. He was violently seized in front of his children and ailing mother. Blindfolded and painfully shackled, he was placed in a military jeep. Soldiers slapped and kicked him. Abuse continued until arriving at Dutan settlement.
Security Conference for London Olympics Plans Massive Police Operation
Submitted on February 1, 2012By Paul Stuart - 1 February 2012
The security operation will begin when the Olympic flame arrives in Lands End, Cornwall, and will finish after the closing ceremony of the Para-Olympic games, approximately three months later. For this period, up to 23,700 security guards (including 3,000 unpaid volunteers) will be provided by G4S [private security]. They will join 13,500 military personnel, a larger force than the 10,000 British soldiers deployed in Afghanistan, and almost 12,000 police, as many as were deployed in last August’s rioting.
Proxy War in Syria Threatens Catastrophe for the Middle East
Submitted on February 1, 2012By Shamus Cooke - Znet
In an effort to undermine Iran by overthrowing its strategic ally, Syria, western nations are using their Middle East client states to conduct a multi-pronged attack against Syria through the media, the Arab League, the United Nations and now through military proxy forces...A grouping of U.S. client states known as the Gulf Cooperation Council...appears to be pursuing a serious campaign to overthrow the Syrian government.
Harper's Border Deal Expands the National Security State
Submitted on February 1, 2012By Emily Gilbert - February 1, 2012
The Shiprider program will extend [Integrated Border Enforcement Teams] to shared waterways and seaways, and will also permit cross-border law enforcement. Designated RCMP and U.S. Coast Guard officers will jointly operate vessels on patrol, and will be authorized to enforce the law on either side of the border. The Harper government has also tabled legislation, Bill C-60...that would bestow these designated officers with enforcement capabilities equivalent to the RCMP -- anywhere in Canada!
All Out Audio
Submitted on February 1, 2012Sounds from the Student Day of Action in Halifax
Halifax, Nova Scotia - Over 1,000 students and their allies owned downtown Halifax today, protesting the January 5th announcement by the provincial NDP government that it had come to an agreement with university presidents to allow tuition for Canadian students to increase by 3 percent for the next three years. Tuition for medicine, law and dentistry are allowed an unlimited increase.
All Out February 1st - Over 1,000 Take to Halifax Streets to Protest Rising Tuition, Decreased Education Funding
Submitted on February 1, 2012The following text is graciously reproduced from the original work "Education Is A Right!", which appears in its entirety at www.cpcml.ca.
The Honorable Voices of Four Women Killed in Kingston
Submitted on February 1, 2012By Arash Azizi - Toronto Media Co-op
In the last days of January 2012, the jury returned a guilty verdict for all three accused on four counts of first-degree murder. Police uncovered damning statements, primarily from Mohammad Shafia, the patriarch and murderer-in-chief of this plot, which recorded no sorrow...Shafia said that they had to be murdered because of their "treason" in supposedly violating his "honor" and that of Islam. What he saw as betrayal, however, was a brilliant story of resistance and expression.
Tory Senator Advocates Self-Execution for Convicted Murderers
Submitted on February 1, 2012February 1, 2012 - CBC News
Conservative Senator Pierre-Hugues Boisvenu said Wednesday he's against the death penalty, but not opposed to convicted murderers having ropes in their cells to kill themselves..."Basically I think that every murderer should have a rope in his cell and he can decide on his own life. But I'm against the death penalty..."
Israel's Never-Ending Holocaust
Submitted on February 1, 2012By Merav Michaeli - Haaretz
The Holocaust is the primary way Israel defines itself. And that definition is narrow and ailing in the extreme, because the Holocaust is remembered only in a very specific way, as are its lessons. It has long been used to justify the existence and the necessity of the state, and has been mentioned in the same breath as proof that the state is under a never-ending existential threat.
The Honourable Voices of Four Women Killed In Kingston
Submitted on February 1, 2012Stories that need to be told
Somewhere in the calm setting of an Islamic cemetery in Laval, Quebec lie four headstones belonging to four women, all members of a single family. Neatly arranged next to each other, they share color, style and design. A Farsi gender-specific religious title for deceased (Marhoome) is prefixed to their names.
NATO and CIA Covertly Arming Syrian Rebels in Order to Weaken Iran
Submitted on February 1, 2012By Daan de Wit - Friday 27 January 2012
The current news coverage concerning Iran is depicting a series of incidents, but when placed in the context of the events of the past few years...it is clear that all the pieces are being put into place for a war against Iran. It is a long-term project demanding many years worth of preparation, and the ultimate goal is getting closer all the time. One component of this preparation is the covert arming of Syrian rebels.
One Million Dead
Submitted on February 1, 2012By Danny Lucia - Znet
OVER A million Iraqis are dead from America's war...One million is a "Grandpa, what did you do to stop it?" number. It's a number that undeniably puts the American state among history's villains. Those who are not willing or able to accept this are physically unable to retain the fact that over a million Iraqis are dead. Their brains expel it like a foreign germ.
Supreme Court to Hear O.P.P. Appeal Against Justice for Levi
Submitted on February 1, 2012Justice for Levi is a collation dedicated to the memory of Levi Schaeffer. The coalition had successfully challenged the Ontario Police at the Ontario Superior Court. The court ruled the conduct of police who shot and killed Schaeffer violated the Police Services Act.
L'extension de la route 167 est commencée
Submitted on January 31, 2012le Plan Nord se met en marche
Le déboisement sur la route 167 en direction des Monts Otish a débuté hier. Cette route doit être prolongée pour mener à un projet d'uranium et à la mine de diamants Renard, propriété de Stornoway Diamond. L'extension de la route est la première mise en application du Plan Nord.
"Eye of Tiger" Composer Sues Newt Gingrich to Stop Him Using Song
Submitted on January 31, 2012By Andy Grimm - January 30, 2012
The composer of the Survivor hit "Eye of the Tiger" has sued Newt Gingrich to stop the Republican presidential candidate from using the "Rocky III" anthem at campaign events...The lawsuit was filed today in federal court in Chicago by Rude Music Inc., the...music publishing company owned by Frank Sullivan, who, with Jim Peterik, composed the song and copyrighted it in 1982.
Squamish Voices Protest Aboriginal Land Management Forum
Submitted on January 31, 2012Tues Jan 31, Vancouver - Today Squamish Voices will be protested the two day Insight Information’s Aboriginal Land Resource Management Forum on land development and resource projects affecting First Nations taking place at the Four Seasons Hotel in downtown Vancouver.
It Is Time To Legalize All Drugs
Submitted on January 31, 2012By Amir Alwani
Potent News
January 28, 2012
I have a right to ingest/smoke whatever I want and to explore the contents of "my own mind" in the process, so long as I am not hurting anyone else, even if it kills me. This is a human right, albeit one that few people think of.
Britain’s National Health Service Faces Wholesale Privatization
Submitted on January 31, 2012By Robert Stevens - WSWS
Free and comprehensive health care is set to end with the passage of the Conservative/Liberal Democrat government’s Health and Social Care Bill 2011...The National Health Service (NHS), established in 1948 as the centre-piece of Britain’s post-war welfare state, is the world’s oldest and largest taxpayer-funded system. It faces rapid privatization on the basis of introducing a US-style user-pays model.
Israel Lawlessly Indicts MK Sa'id Naffa
Submitted on January 31, 2012Israel reveals its rogue credentials daily. In mid-July 2010, its Knesset stripped MK Hanin Zoabi of key parliamentary rights and privileges for participating in the May 2010 Freedom Flotilla bringing vital aid to Gaza.
Mumia Abu-Jamal Transferred to General Population Following Global Campaign
Submitted on January 31, 2012Monday, January 30, 2012. Mumia Abu-Jamal is off death row and out of solitary because you called and wrote and faxed and emailed. He is out of the "hole". We did it. This was an international effort, including the delivery of over 5000 petitions, thousands of letters, and the threat of legal action.
Ten Days Down, 314 to Go
Submitted on January 31, 2012By Mandy Hiscocks - January 29, 2012
I'm staring down another 315 days in here. It seems so impossible, but obviously it's not. On Dec. 3, 2012 I will be walking out of here. Hopefully healthy and definitely more clued in when it comes to this beast we call the Prison Industrial Complex.
Harper Sells Austerity in Davos
Submitted on January 31, 2012By Duncan Cameron - January 31, 2012
When Harper was in Davos, Switzerland, last week to address the World Economic Forum, he did not talk about the subject of the conference...or address concerns about regulation of international banking, or global trade and payments imbalances. Instead he presented his austerity plan for Canada...Going to Switzerland to announce his intentions to attack seniors served domestic purposes. There were no opposition politicians, or interested Canadians, around to react quickly to the news...that Harper was ready to raise the age eligibility for Old Age Security to 67 from 65.
Conservatives’ Reactionary "Tough on Crime" Bill Soon to Become Law in Canada
Submitted on January 31, 2012By Ed Patrick - 31 January 2012
Stephen Harper’s new majority Conservative government has made pushing the Safe Streets and Communities Act, Bill C-10, through parliament a top priority...[T]he Conservatives’ omnibus anti-crime bill is a collection of socially regressive measures. Most of these would make the criminal justice system more arbitrary and vindictive. Some are petty. Taken together they represent a wholesale repudiation of the bourgeois liberal concept of rehabilitation, in favor of punishment and vengeance.
Nova Scotia Month in Review
Submitted on January 31, 2012Unions Put on Their Gloves, The Poor are Incovenient Truths, Students Ready for Action
Union days: Emerging stronger from the current crisis?
As January ended, more than 700 Metro Transit workers, members of Local 508 of the Amalgamated Transit Union, were locked in the final days of contract negotiations.
Occupy Oakland and State Repression
Submitted on January 31, 2012By MIKE KING - Counterpunch
Saturday’s attacks are part of an ongoing counter-insurgency campaign to attempt to strip the movement of its substantial legitimacy, to intimidate, to harass, to divide, to contain, to co-opt, and to eventually destroy Occupy Oakland...The City’s overwhelming use of force and mass arrests, firing less-than-lethal weapons into marches with many children, the violent beatings, and the trumped-up charges in response to a peaceful attempt to make social use out of an unused building makes the State’s position clear. What is not clear is who will eventually win.
Toronto In Review: January 2012
Submitted on January 31, 2012Ford loses power, union shakeups, G20 prisoner news, killer cops continue to go unpunished
L'éducation est un droit
Submitted on January 31, 2012La défense du droit à l'éducation est, à la base, une lutte qui vise à bâtir une société plus équitable.
Harper and the U.S. Wrong on Iran Threat
Submitted on January 31, 2012By Gerald Caplan - January 31, 2012
Iran is the convenient next common enemy that conservatives always seem to need. Having run out of communism, terrorism, Islamism, Saddam and Bin Laden, they’ve now fastened on Iran. In the endlessly repeated sound bite of Canada’s foreign affairs minister, John Baird, “We believe Iran constitutes the greatest threat to peace and security in the world.” It’s a spin line, not a serious analysis.
GroundWire January 29th
Submitted on January 31, 2012The Struggle of Karla Ramirez, Resistance to the Enbridge pipeline and how far will Shoal Lake's Water go?
GroundWire January 29 2012Headlines:
Provincial Day of Action against “fracking” in Nova Scotia |David Parker, CKDU, Halifax, NS.
CAW workers block a locomotive in solidarity with the lockout of Electromotive Canada workers. | Ed Von Anderkaas, CHRW
Poursuite pénale contre un individu qui a filmé des policiers en civil lors de la manifestation montréalaise à propos du G20
Submitted on January 31, 2012Accusé d'agression armée contre la police avec sa bicyclette, le Montréalais affirme que la police a menti et a détruit des preuves cruciales filmées en vidéo
Montréal, le 30 janvier 2012 - Le procès d'un Montréalais arrêté après avoir pris des photos de policiers en civil sera entendu par un tribunal ce mercredi. Scott Weinstein a été arrêté le 1er juillet 2010 dans le cadre d'une manifestation montréalaise dénonçant les arrestations massives lors des mobilisations du G20 à Toronto.
Occupy the Super Bowl: More Than Just a Slogan
Submitted on January 31, 2012By Dave Zirin - January 31, 2012
The protests...promise to shed light on the reality of life for working families in the city of Indianapolis. Unemployment is at 13.3 percent, with unemployment for African-American families at 21 percent. Two of every five African-American families with a child under 5 live below the anemic poverty line. Such pain amidst the gloss of the Super Bowl and the prospect of right-to-work legislation is, for many, a catalyst to just do something.
Income Gap in British Columbia Getting Worse
Submitted on January 31, 2012January 31, 2012 - CBC News
A new report echoes what Occupy protesters across B.C. were saying last year — there's a growing gap in the province between rich and poor...And the report does not come from a left-leaning organization, but from BC Stats, the agency that crunches numbers for the provincial government...“Given the size and vehemence of the Occupy protests, one would suspect that the current income gap is too large..."
Global Corporate Power and the Decay of Canada
Submitted on January 31, 2012By Chris Hedges - Truthdig
[Canada] used to be the country we would flee to if life in the United States became unpalatable...But that was the old Canada...Canada has withdrawn from the Kyoto Accords so it can dig up the Alberta tar sands in an orgy of environmental degradation. It carried out the largest mass arrests of demonstrators in Canadian history at 2010’s G-8 and G-20...And Canada’s Prime Minister Stephen Harper is a diminished version of George W. Bush. He champions the rabid right wing in Israel, bows to the whims of global financiers and is a Christian fundamentalist.
Carpenter's Union and Allies Picket Airport Hotel Construction Site
Submitted on January 31, 2012HALIFAX, Nova Scotia – Members of the Carpenter’s Union and the Halifax-Dartmouth & District Labour Council staged an early-morning picket of Le Germain Group/ATL Hotels new hotel construction site at the Halifax International Airport.
Targeting AIPAC
Submitted on January 30, 2012AIPAC operates illegally in America as an unregistered foreign agent.
Europe's Losing Game
Submitted on January 30, 2012Partnering with America has consequences. Europe's paying by shooting itself in the foot. On January 23, European Union representative for foreign and security affairs, Catherine Ashton, broke the news. She announced an "unprecedented" anti-Iranian oil embargo, effective July 1 and immediately from new contracts.
Fingers Itch for a War on Iran
Submitted on January 30, 2012By VIJAY PRASHAD - January 30, 2012
The war is on, and as pressure on Iran mounts, there is a temptation for the Iranians to lash out...If they do so, the Atlantic powers, the Israelis and the Gulf Arabs will take this as a casus belli. It will be enough to power up the cruise missile delivery systems. The political benefits for the US and Israel of such an attack are great...“An attack or possible war on Iran would have the added effect of derailing the Arab revolutions and revolts and justify the continued presence of a large US military force in the oil-rich region.”
Occupy The Family Portrait
Submitted on January 30, 2012One Occupier Reflects on Occupy Nova Scotia
I remember receiving the text from my brother. It said that there were strangers breaking into our house. I raced home to find that a mob of armed thugs, in matching gang clothing, had kidnapped and beaten several members of my family, and had stolen a bunch of our things.
Toronto Mayor Set to Lock Out City Workers
Submitted on January 30, 2012By Jane Slaughter - January 30, 2012
On a scale never before seen in Canada, the mayor of Toronto seeks to privatize city services and is taking on the largest public sector locals in Canada to do so. Counting down to a lockout February 5, city workers’ unions are scrambling to make their case to city residents...Mayor Rob Ford’s double-pronged attack on services and workers is seen as “extremely drastic” and “will set a precedent across the board nationally if Ford is able to gut our collective agreements.”
Neo-Liberalism and the Ongoing Economic Assault on Ordinary Canadians
Submitted on January 30, 2012By Murray Dobbin - rabble.ca
So having succeeded in giving capitalists everything they asked for...what do we have?...[W]hile the advertising and marketing of more and more stuff goes on apace, the facts facing working- and middle-class families paint a totally unsustainable spending picture: some 60 per cent of wage and salary earners state that they are one pay-cheque away from financial insolvency; the Canadian savings rate is the lowest it's been for decades...the net real increase in average pay between 1980 and 2005 was a grand total of $51.
CKUT's Off the Hour: A poetic commemoration of the Haitian Earthquake
Submitted on January 30, 2012presented at the 'Centre for International Studies and Cooperation' in Montreal
On January 12, 2012, the "Centre for International Studies and Cooperation", an international organization to fight poverty and exclusion of the developing world,<
For Montreals Head and Hands, Funding Cuts Mean Less Hands
Submitted on January 30, 2012Interview with Juniper Belshawk
The organization Head and Hands, which hads provided medical, legal and social services to Montreal youth, has been unable to provide Street Work services. Every year the organization's street workers have worked towards Hepatitis C and HIV prevention by distributing hundreds of clean needles and thousands of condoms.
Hundreds Arrested in Police Crackdown on Oakland Protests
Submitted on January 30, 2012By Jack Hood - WSWS
Hundreds of police clad in riot gear and wielding a variety of weapons attacked a procession of protesters in Oakland, California, on Saturday. It was the largest altercation between police and protesters in Oakland since the October 25 confrontation that left several wounded...More than 400 protesters were arrested over the course of the evening, with marches continuing late into the night.
U.S. 47th in Press Freedom After Attacks on OWS
Submitted on January 29, 2012By DAVE LINDORFF - January 27-29, 2012
Say it loud and say it proud: We’re Number 47! We’re Number 47!...If you want to know why the US...is now ranked number 47th...in terms of freedom of the press in the annual ranking put out by Reporters Without Borders...you could ask Mike Bloomberg, the billionaire mayor of New York and himself owner of a huge news organization, or his Chief of Police Raymond Kelly...For that matter you could ask the mayors and police chiefs of Chicago, Los Angeles, Seattle, Portland, Boston, Philadelphia, or a host of other cities.
Harper's Grand Plan: What It Is and How to Fight It
Submitted on January 29, 2012By Syed Hussan - January 29, 2012
On Friday, in a grand, sweeping, blustering speech...Harper has laid out his vision for the future. It is imperative that we understand it, to fight it...Harper's speech brushes over two areas: (1) job creation and economic stability through corporate tax cuts, free trade agreements, further investments in energy and oil production and cuts to pensions and (2) dealing with 'demographic challenges' by managing immigration. These are all connected and should be scrutinized as such.
Targeting Iranian Nationals
Submitted on January 29, 2012Covert war's raged against Tehran for years. Destabilization tactics include fake accusations, political and economic sanctions, isolation, covert and direct confrontation, cyberwar, targeted assassinations, and other provocations short of war - so far.
Arresting Issues from the G20 Summit Protests Remain Unsolved
Submitted on January 29, 2012By Krystalline Kraus - January 28, 2012
A 174-page report by the Office of the Independent Police Review Director (OIPRD) released on Friday January 20, 2012, recommended that five Toronto police officers should face criminal charges for using unnecessary force against activist Adam Nobody.
Ritalin Gone Wrong
Submitted on January 29, 2012By L. ALAN SROUFE - January 28, 2012
Attention-deficit drugs increase concentration in the short term...But when given to children over long periods of time, they neither improve school achievement nor reduce behavior problems. The drugs can also have serious side effects, including stunting growth...Sadly, few physicians and parents seem to be aware of what we have been learning about the lack of effectiveness of these drugs.
ACTA: Worse Than SOPA and PIPA
Submitted on January 29, 2012Internet freedom's on the line. SOPA and PIPA threatened Net Neutrality and free expression. So does ACTA. For now, the largest on-line protest in Internet history got Congress to abandon SOPA and PIPA for now but not permanently. Expect resurrection in modified form. Language may change but not intent. ACTA's worse.
VanSol: Serving the Boss
Submitted on January 28, 2012Wednesday marked the first large action by local solidarity group Vancouver Solidarity, or VanSol.
The action involved serving a letter of demand to someone who had refused to pay his worker for wages owed udner-the-table in the tune of around $200.
The Corporate State Will Be Broken
Submitted on January 28, 2012By Chris Hedges - Monday 23 January 2012
I do not know how long it will take to dethrone the corporate state, but I do know it is a dead and terminal system of power. As the global economy deteriorates and climate change causes greater disruptions, these corporations will be increasingly discredited. I know the iron grip of corporations over our lives will, eventually, be broken. The corporate state will, like all wounded animals, lash out with a blind fury...It will increase pressure to become crueler and more callous at the base of the columns it depends on for survival. And eventually it will break.
Don't be a Strikebreaker for Rob Ford!
Submitted on January 28, 2012Thursday, January 26, 2012 - Ontario Coalition Against Poverty
Rob Ford and his friends on City Council are out to wipe out public services in this City and to attack the workers who deliver those services. Thousands of members of the Canadian Union of Public Employees face the threat of being locked out by the City...Ford wants to sell off many services to private corporations and then cut what is left to an absolute minimum...This would be a huge defeat that would drive down wages all across the City and beyond and it must not be allowed to happen.
Harper Outlines Class War Agenda at Davos
Submitted on January 28, 2012By Keith Jones - 28 January 2012
In a speech Thursday to the Davos World Economic Forum, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper pledged that his Conservative government will pursue a “transformative” big business agenda — austerity and tax cuts, radical regressive changes to public health care and pensions, and deregulation...[I]n a chilling display of the scope and scale of the anti-working class offensive being prepared by Canada’s elite, Harper contrasted his government’s resolve to promote “economic growth” with the purported focus of many unnamed Western governments on providing “services and entitlement.”
Vancouver Anti-Racists Confront Neo-Nazi at Court Appearance
Submitted on January 28, 2012By Zig Zag - Vancouver Media Co-op
Approximately 25 anti-racists attended the Friday, January 27, court appearance of Shawn MacDonald (39), a member of the neo-Nazi group Blood and Honour charged with three assaults against people of colour in the Vancouver area...MacDonald didn't attend his court appearance in the morning and was represented by Doug Christie, a Victoria-based lawyer well known for his defense of right-wing extremists since the 1980s...Christie was confronted at around 10AM as he left the courthouse by about a dozen anti-racists.
Hunger is Never an Appropriate Punishment: Feeding the Homeless
Submitted on January 28, 2012Hunger is not an appropriate form of punishment, no matter what the crime. The number one thing I see people use to justify just stepping over homeless and hungry people in the streets is judgment. This idea that homeless people deserve hunger as a punishment, or perhaps as an impetus to do what society wants, is ill thought out. That thinking is also based in a holier than thou philosophy that can easily be deconstructed as well. Unless you are willing to kill someone for their crimes, cutting off access to food as the punishment is inhumane.
What will it take to win the lockout at Electro-Motive Diesel?
Submitted on January 28, 2012Elections Tinkering
Submitted on January 28, 2012Are the NS NDP's election reforms enough, and can they increase voter turnout?
For at least two reasons, 2009 was a new landmark in Nova Scotian electoral politics.
The Struggle Goes On: Dr. Burnley “Rocky” Jones Premiers Johnston Distinguished Lecture Series
Submitted on January 27, 2012The James Robinson Johnston Distinguished Lecture Series was launched Wednesday night at the Schulich School of Law at Dalhousie University by Dr. Afua Cooper, the current James Robinson Johnston Chair in Black Canadian Studies. The series' inaugural speaker was internationally known human rights activist Dr. Burnley “Rocky” Jones.
Vancouver Anti-Racists Confront Neo-Nazi at Court Appearance
Submitted on January 27, 2012Approximately 25 anti-racists attended the Friday, January 27, court appearance of Shawn MacDonald (39), a member of the neo-Nazi group Blood and Honour charged with three assaults against people of colour in the Vancouver area.
U.S. to Expand Military Presence in the Philippines
Submitted on January 27, 2012By Joseph Santolan - WSWS
The deployment of US vessels and forces in the Philippines would be a further ratcheting up of the Obama administration’s confrontation with China in the Asia Pacific generally, and particularly in the South China Sea...Concerned at the rising economic power of China, US imperialism has asserted its ‘national interest’ in the vital waterways of the South China Sea. Over the past two years it has backed up this claim with diplomatic maneuvering, political machinations within each country in the region, and increased military deployments.
Profile of a Rogue State
Submitted on January 27, 2012Israel commits daily crimes against humanity.
Clashes and Torture on the Rise in 'Disillusioned' Libya
Submitted on January 27, 2012By Jason Ditz - January 25, 2012
The [National Transitional Council government] is looking to placate the public with a few token resignations, but the issue goes well beyond the unpopularity of a few late-in-the-game defectors from the old regime. The protests against the Gadhafi regime began with the hope of a free country, and the realization that the NTC commandeered their revolution — possibly replacing one tyrant with another — is not something that can be easily tamped down.
Israel Prepares for War Against Iran
Submitted on January 27, 2012By Peter Symonds - 27 January 2012
By recklessly escalating the economic embargo and military threats against Iran, the US, Israel and the European powers are heightening the danger of a slide into war that has the potential to engulf the region and to spread internationally.
Blood and Honour: Trial by Public!
Submitted on January 27, 2012No One Is Illegal Statement on Blood and Honour White Supremacist Hate Crimes
Selling War
Submitted on January 27, 2012Throughout its history, America glorified wars in the name of peace. From inception, they're perpetuated against one or more domestic or foreign adversaries.
No One Is Illegal-Vancouver on White Supremacist Hate Crimes
Submitted on January 27, 2012January 26th, 2012 - No One Is Illegal-Vancouver, Coast Salish Territories
As a multiracial movement led by people of colour, we are outraged to hear of the rise of overt white supremacist groups in the Lower Mainland...Racism manifests itself in (under-reported) hate crimes, such as the violent assaults of these four people of colour, as well as daily forms of racist harassment, such as racial slurs. These forms of individual/overt racism do not and cannot exist in isolation from more systemic/covert forms of racism.
Support for "Radical" Group Rises Since Oliver's Attack: Public Support Up for Environmental Groups Targeted by Harper
Submitted on January 27, 2012January 27, 2012 - CBC News
Tough talk from Ottawa about radical environmentalists and foreign-funded adversaries seems to be actually strengthening support for those groups under attack...Environmental groups involved in the debate over Enbridge Inc.'s Northern Gateway oilsands pipeline to the west coast report that donations have soared in recent weeks -- especially after Natural Resources Minister Joe Oliver said U.S.-funded environmentalists and jet-setting celebrities are trying to hijack the regulatory hearings.
Whistleblower Claims Prime Minister's Office Tried to Silence Enbridge Pipeline Critic
Submitted on January 27, 2012By Andrew Frank - January 25, 2012
There was a look of fear and disbelief on my fellow staff members' faces the day they were told our own government had labeled them enemies of the state. Our administration co-ordinator had tears in her eyes. In the days that followed, our employees couldn't sleep well. They lost their appetites, and they began to fear for their own personal safety and civil liberties, and those of their families and loved ones. They began looking over their shoulder, out of fear and paranoia, because their own government might be watching them.
Transit delays and fare hikes drive tar sands expansion
Submitted on January 27, 2012EMD locked out workers speak out on the Day of Action Against Caterpillar
Submitted on January 27, 2012Independent Libyan Fact-Finding Mission
Submitted on January 26, 2012The Mission exposed NATO crimes but fell short.
Obama's Failed State of the Union
Submitted on January 26, 2012Obama and those around him should be in prison, not the White House.
War Abroad, Austerity at Home
Submitted on January 26, 2012By PAUL CRAIG ROBERTS - January 25, 2012
As the western “democracies” become increasingly lawless, the mask of law that imperialism wears is stripped away and with it the sheen of morality that has been used to cloak hegemonic ambitions. With Iran surrounded and with two of Washington’s fleets in the Persian Gulf, another war of aggression seems inevitable.
Pictou Landing Votes "NO"
Submitted on January 26, 2012Band Votes Resoundingly Against Taking Provincial Hush Money
Members of the Pictou Landing Indian Band in Pictou Landing, Nova Scotia, have voted resoundingly, 119-20, against accepting the provincial government's offer of $3 million in exchange for dropping their lawsuit against the province.
Dead-in Against U.S. Military Aid in Egypt
Submitted on January 26, 2012Toronto protesters host a "dead-in" against U.S. Military aid in Egypt on the one year anniversary of the Egyptian uprising.
Two Dozen Arrested in San Francisco Occupy March
Submitted on January 26, 2012By Jack Hood - WSWS
Protesters blockaded parts of California Street — the epicenter of the west coast’s financial industry. Many banks, including Citibank, Wells Fargo, and Bank of America, were forced to close early or shut down entirely as protest participants locked arms around bank entrances and ATMs...Police in riot gear made their presence known as early as 9:00 a.m. Several protesters were hit with batons throughout the day.
The Truth Behind the Coming "Regime Change" in Syria
Submitted on January 26, 2012By Shamus Cooke - January 26, 2012
The United States appears to be using a strategy in Syria that it has perfected over the years, having succeeded most recently in Libya: arming small paramilitary groups loyal to U.S. interests that claim to speak for the native population; these militants then attack the targeted government the U.S. would like to see overthrown...and when the attacked government defends itself, the U.S. cries "genocide" or "mass murder,” while calling for foreign military intervention.
Mort de Farshad Mohammadi sous les balles de la police : quelles en sont les vraies causes?
Submitted on January 26, 2012Cet article est une version plus complète d’un texte initialement rédigé pour être publié dans 2 quotidiens montréalais.
TOK’NI:KON THAT’S IT!
Submitted on January 26, 2012MNN. Jan. 25, 2012. That dance between Canada’s Prime Minister Stephen
Harper and his top Indian CEO, Shawn Atleo, at the phony First Nations
Summit in Ottawa sends the same old “we’re-gonna-get-dem-Injuns”
message.
This was the first public face-to-face
CAW Takes Direct Action Against Caterpillar In Ingersoll *The Indignants*
Submitted on January 26, 2012Occupy Toronto may have a Permanent Home?
Submitted on January 25, 2012Bob Kinnear: Transit workers offered to take a wage freeze if the TTC maintained services, but the City said no
Submitted on January 25, 2012“We said we would be willing—and this was just dialogue, wasn’t offers passed back and forth—that we’d take this,” Bob Kinnear makes a zero with his fingers, “provided that the Toronto Transit Commission maintains the level of service.&rdq
Whistling Past the Graveyard
Submitted on January 25, 2012Europe's sinking. Japan's in recession. China risks landing hard. America's sure to follow. Ordinary people face protracted Depression conditions.
The Armenian Genocide
Submitted on January 25, 2012Turkey's appalling crime is exceeded multiple times by US genocides.
Off to See the Wizard: The 2012 AFN-Crown Summit
Submitted on January 25, 2012By Zig Zag - January 24, 2012
Ultimately, the Crown-[Assembly of First Nations] summit is about furthering the economic and political assimilation of Native peoples, a long-standing goal of the colonial state and one now championed by the Indian Act chiefs who are themselves fully assimilated into the capitalist system.
The Soft Side of Imperialism
Submitted on January 25, 2012By LAURA AGUSTÍN - January 25, 2012
Relying on a belief in social evolution, development and modernization as objective truths, contemporary rescuers...consider themselves free, self-governing individuals born in the most civilized lands and therefore entitled to rule people in more backward ones...Here begins colonialism, the day-to-day imposition of value systems from outside, the permanent maintenance of the upper hand...The Rescue Industry, like the war on terrorism, relies on an image of the barbaric Other.
Island Hopping with Emera
Submitted on January 25, 2012Barbados is Latest Caribbean Island to Feel the Emera Squeeze
On a small island north of Venezuela, 4,500 kilometres from Halifax, Barbados Light and Power (BLP) recently issued a news release. Energy use on the Caribbean island has hit a low not seen since 1974.
Occupy Wall Street Protester Arrested for 'Lynching'
Submitted on January 25, 2012By Robert Meeropol - Znet
This morning I read that an ardent member of the Occupy Los Angeles movement has been arrested and charged with lynching. You might think the protester, Sergio Ballesteros, attacked and hung someone...But no, the police have used the law which defines lynching as “taking by means of riot any person from the lawful custody of any peace officer” to charge a non-violent activist with this felony for allegedly trying to keep a fellow demonstrator from being arrested.
Got a story to share? Pitch it by Feb. 1!
Submitted on January 25, 2012As we do every month, in February we will pay two contributors for news stories to be published in The Dominion. We prioritize solutions-oriented news pieces with a Canadian angle, including photo essays and video pitches.
Off to see the Wizard: the 2012 AFN-Crown Summit
Submitted on January 24, 2012WarriorPublications.wordpress.com, January 24, 2012
CKUT's Off the Hour
Submitted on January 24, 2012Interview with Kristian Garneau and Claude Vaillancourt of ATTAC-Quebec
On friday Dec. 16th 2011, a Montreal-based flash mob put on some green tights to raise awareness about the Robin Hood Tax.
European Union Imposes Oil Embargo on Iran
Submitted on January 24, 2012By Peter Symonds - WSWS
European Union (EU) foreign ministers meeting in Brussels yesterday imposed far-reaching economic sanctions on Iran, including an embargo on Iranian oil imports that will come into full force in July. The embargo is an act of economic war that heightens the danger of a slide into military hostilities in the Persian Gulf...The EU sanctions are comprehensive, hitting every aspect of Iran’s oil industry.
Vancouver Employer Jailed for Exposing Workers to Asbestos
Submitted on January 24, 2012January 24, 2012 - CBC News
A Metro Vancouver employer who repeatedly exposed his demolition workers to asbestos has been sentenced to 60 days in jail...[Arthur] Moore often hired recovering addicts...then knowingly exposed them to asbestos without adequate protective equipment, according to court documents...On average, 50 B.C. workers a year die from cancer and other illnesses caused by workplace asbestos exposure...
Muskrat Falls Development Premature and Imprudent
Submitted on January 24, 2012CD Howe Report Slams Emera Co-Sponsored Mega-Project
HALIFAX - On January 11 the CD Howe Institute, a leading Canadian business think-tank, released a policy paper entitled, ‘Newfoundland’s Electricity Options: Making the Right Choice Requires an Efficient Pricing Regime”.
Harper Takes Republican Allies
Submitted on January 24, 2012By Duncan Cameron - January 24, 2012
Close observers of U.S. politics were surprised to see Newt Gingrich win the South Carolina primary...Of equal surprise to Canadians was seeing Gingrich single out Stephen Harper in his victory speech...What was unexpected was the way Gingrich used his victory speech to ally himself with the Harper Conservatives in order to mount an attack on U.S. President Barrack Obama...Gingrich went after Obama for postponing approval of the extension to the Keystone pipeline...
Call for Investigative Features
Submitted on January 24, 2012The Media Co-op is seeking pitches for investigative features. Writers will be paid $400 for 2200 words.
Halifax to Crown its Twelfth Emperor
Submitted on January 24, 2012A look inside Nova Scotia's Imperial Sovereign Court
This isn’t how Jozef Crooks normally looks.
Casual attire consists of leather chaps, a leather vest, jeans and a white T-shirt. For formal events, he sports leather pants, a leather dress shirt, tie, cap and gloves topped with a leather coat followed by its eight-foot train.
Crooks is a leather man, a member of the gay subculture fond of this textile.
Entrevue avec Antoine de Koumbit à propos de SOPA et de ''lawful access''
Submitted on January 23, 2012pour en savoir plus, vous pouvez entre autres vous rendre sur ces sites :
http://unlawfulaccess.net/
SPVM et profilage ? Partie 1
Submitted on January 23, 2012Entrevue avec Alexandre Popovic (CRAP), Will Prosper (Montreal-Nord Republik) et Jacques (Parti communiste révolutionnaire)
http://montreal.mediacoop.ca/audio/spvm-et-profilage-partie-2/9697
America's Great Divide Between Rich and Poor
Submitted on January 23, 2012Wealth divide in America is unprecedented.
NPR and PBS Anti-Iranian Propaganda
Submitted on January 23, 2012Both National Public Radio and Public Broadcasting serve corporate and imperial interests. They're called public to conceal their agenda.
Zapotec Protesters Shot on Behalf of Canadian Mining Company
Submitted on January 23, 2012January 23, 2012 - Intercontinental Cry
One Zapotec has died and another is in recovery after a group of municipal police officers and other armed men opened fire on a crowd of protesters in the municipality of San José del Progreso, Ocotlán, Oaxaca, Mexico...Cuzcatlán, a subsidiary of the Canadian mining company Fortuna Silver has already received a permit to build [a] pipeline. Opponents of the mine maintain that the permit should not have been issued because the municipal government failed to obtain the community's free, prior and informed consent.
Taking Liberties: 22 Years Behind Bars for a "Crime of Compassion"
Submitted on January 23, 2012By Matthew Behrens - rabble.ca
...New York oncologist Dr. Rafil Dhafir...remains behind bars in one of the most brutal of U.S. prisons, the Communication Management Unit in Terre Haute, Indiana...Dhafir was sentenced to 22 years for consciously violating the sanctions against the people of Iraq. Many individuals and groups who were not Muslim also violated the sanctions...yet Dhafir, as the driving force behind the Help the Needy Foundation, which provided millions in aid, was the only one to suffer such a fate.
War Horse: All Heart and No Head (Review)
Submitted on January 23, 2012By Kevin Martinez - 23 January 2012
In the First World War, Britain lost approximately 887,000 men...For every eight soldiers who went to the front, one would not return home. Entire villages were decimated by the war and it was not uncommon for a family to lose all its sons. To this day, World War I remains Britain’s costliest conflict...Any serious artistic treatment of World War I has to take this basic truth into consideration. An artwork that merely uses imperialist war as a backdrop and accepts such a state of affairs as a given...cannot offer any real insight or provide dramatic lessons to its audience.
Is Canada Becoming a Jingoistic Petro-State?
Submitted on January 23, 2012By Will Oremus - Oil Sands Truth
Stephen Harper, the son of an oil-company accountant, built his political career in Alberta, a province whose right-wing tendencies and booming energy sector make it Canada’s equivalent of Texas...The Canadian economy weathered the financial crisis unusually well, thanks to strong banking regulations and booming oil sales to China, and in May 2011 Harper’s party won a majority for the first time. It has celebrated by veering rightward and doubling down on its oil bets.
Obama Set to Use Military Intervention Against Washington Longshore Workers
Submitted on January 23, 2012By Ben Schreiner - January 23rd, 2012
Within weeks, if not days, the international conglomerate EGT Development will seek to commence operations at its new $200 million export grain terminal at the Port of Longview. In refusing to use [International Longshore and Warehouse Union] labor, EGT is breaking the precedent in place since the 1930s, which holds that all public port docks up and down the West Coast are to be worked by the ILWU...Yet, as the ILWU and its allies ready to fight EGT’s union busting, the US military lies in wait to intervene on the behalf of the conglomerate.
Uproar After Jewish American Newspaper Publisher Suggests Israel Assassinate Barack Obama
Submitted on January 23, 2012By Chemi Shalev - January 21, 2012
The owner and publisher of the Atlanta Jewish Times, Andrew Adler, has suggested that Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu consider ordering a Mossad hit team to assassinate U.S. President Barack Obama so that his successor will defend Israel against Iran.
CkUT's OTH: Harper's Bid to Dismantle the Canadian Wheat Board
Submitted on January 23, 2012interview with Laurence Nicholson and Saskatchewan farmer Stewart Wells
CKUT's OTH look into the government's plan to dismantle the Canadian Wheat Board.
Harper's Indian Meet-and-Greet: More of the Same Abusive Relationship
Submitted on January 23, 2012Normally, the mainstream media jumps all over stories...that show dysfunction or crisis in Indigenous communities. It lets editorialist's gnash their teeth and wring their hands, eventually coming to the conclusion that the situation...is just too complicated to do anything, ending in a ritualistic throwing up of hands. This is just the reaction that governments depend on. It means they can go back to ignoring Indigenous communities, when they’re not shoving them around to make way for oil, logging, mining or other corporate interests, or just because Ottawa can and does shove them around.
Banks and EU Leaders Pressure Greece for More Austerity
Submitted on January 23, 2012By Stefan Steinberg - WSWS
Over the last week, finance organizations, the banks, European heads of state and leading European Union (EU) officials applied intense pressure on Greece for more punitive austerity measures, including public sector lay-offs and privatizations. They are demanding more of the same budgetary blood-letting which has had catastrophic consequences for Greek workers over the past three years.
Stephen Harper and the Threat of War on Iran
Submitted on January 23, 2012By Derrick O'Keefe - rabble.ca
Today's agreement by the European Union to impose an oil embargo on Iran brings the world closer to war...Into this tense situation comes Stephen Harper, who took the opportunity of a sit down with Peter Mansbridge on the CBC last week to make his latest in a series of incendiary comments regarding Iran...Harper's rhetoric should frighten us all.
Harper's Indian Meet-and-greet
Submitted on January 23, 2012AFN-Ministerial summit promises more of the same abusive relationship
“The most potent weapon of the oppressor is the mind of the oppressed.” - STEVE BIKO
A recently discovered note on my desk: “Answer questions from friends, re: What happened at Attawapiskat; whys and wherefores?”
UK Government Suppresses Truth
Submitted on January 22, 2012Revoking Press TV's license was clear irresponsible censorship. Doing so suppressed truth. UK television viewers were deprived of real news, information, commentary and analysis.
The Police Killing of Farshad Mohammadi: Exposing the Root Causes
Submitted on January 22, 2012By Samir Shaheen-Hussain, Robyn Maynard and Anne-Marie Gallant - Coop Média de Montréal
A primordial issue in Farshad Mohammadi’s killing is the social profiling carried out by Montreal city police. Police officers often harass people who are seeking shelter or sleeping in the metros, creating a climate of resentment and disdain vis-à-vis the police within marginalized communities...[A]ccording to eyewitnesses, Mohammadi wasn’t bothering anyone prior to the police intervention. So, the more fundamental question is why the police deemed it necessary to engage Mohammadi in the first place?
Seven Truths Inconvenient to U.S. Foreign Policy
Submitted on January 22, 2012By DAN KOVALIK - January 20-22, 2012
Given that the U.S. is currently attempting to wage actual war, as well as to carry out acts of war...against numerous countries, one is subject to a constant barrage of lies from the U.S. government to justify such acts...The U.S. is not the “world’s policeman” or the spreader of democracy and human rights that it claims to be. Rather, it has done much more to undermine democracy, human rights and even stability, than it has done to promote these conditions.
The Harper Government, Ethical Oil and the Sun Media Connection
Submitted on January 22, 2012By Emma Pullman - January 20, 2012
Just over a week before the Northern Gateway Pipeline hearings began, EthicalOil.org and its allies launched a pre-emptive PR offensive on environmental and First Nations groups who oppose the pipeline. Their new website...and ad campaign are an attempt to invalidate opposition to the pipeline by pointing to the small amount of American funding going to some environmental groups...Sun News was first to promote the campaign, and by the end of the week, numerous papers across Canada were repeating the story.
Microfinance: Small-scale Neoliberalism?
Submitted on January 22, 2012Controversial guest speaker at Saint Mary's says small loans to entrepreneurs in the developing world do more harm than good
It’s been 36 years since Bangladeshi economist Muhammad Yunus started giving startup business loans to some of his country’s poorest would-be entrepreneurs.
Since then microfinance has become a darling of the international development community, credited with lifting thousands out of poverty and earning Yunus the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006.
Why I'm Suing Barack Obama
Submitted on January 22, 2012By Chris Hedges - January 22, 2012
Fear is the psychological weapon of choice for totalitarian systems of power. Make the people afraid. Get them to surrender their rights in the name of national security. And then finish off the few who aren’t afraid enough. If this law is not revoked we will be no different from any sordid military dictatorship. Its implementation will be a huge leap forward for the corporate oligarchs who plan to continue to plunder the nation and use state and military security to cow the population into submission.
Dan Savage Glitterbombed
Submitted on January 21, 2012A group of queer activists today glitter-bombed columnist Dan Savage before his It Gets Better show. The reason for the glitter-bombing was Savage's "ableism, ageism, classism, misogyny, racism, rape-apologism, serophobia, sizism, transphobia and, oh yeah, that column" according to the group's press release.
Israel Claims Syria/Hamas-Connected Terror Cells Uncovered
Submitted on January 21, 2012Here we go again. We've seen it before strategically timed. Weigh all Israeli claims skeptically. On its face, this one lacks credibility.
Florida Cop Brutally Beats 66-Year-Old Black Man With Dementia
Submitted on January 21, 2012January 21, 2012 - AlterNet
Officer Middendorf of the Melbourne, Florida Police Department decided Albert Flowers, a 66 year old African American Man suffering from dementia deserved to get his ass kicked...The video clearly shows Flowers calmly walking towards the police cruiser before Middendorf suddenly delivers a kick to his midsection. Before Flowers is able to get up, the white cop drops to his knees and pounds his fists into the African-American man’s face.
Anti-Syrian Pack Journalism
Submitted on January 21, 2012Major media scoundrels do what they do best - suppress the truth.
Increased Military Traffic Seen Across North America
Submitted on January 21, 2012By Amir Alwani
Potent News
January 21, 2012
[UPDATE: Someone asked me exactly where I witnessed this so I've now added pictures I took from Google maps to clear things up.]
Yesterday morning (January 20th, 2012), around 4AM I stumbled upon 20-30 tanks on train cars here in Halifax, Canada (at a train stop beside Fairview Cemetery).
Unfortunately, I didn't have my camera with me at the time and when I came back to film no more than 15 hours later, the tanks had apparently already been transported away.
Stephen Harper Doth Protest Too Much
Submitted on January 21, 2012By Kim Petersen - January 21st, 2012
Canada’s prime minister Stephen Harper recently professed some biased opinions, opinions that may well be argued to be dangerous, in an interview with the CBC...Harper spoke of overwhelming evidence that Iran has a nuclear weapons program. No evidence was provided.
Egypt a Year Later: Rally in Solidarity
Submitted on January 21, 2012Today marked a year since the revolution against Mubarak in Egypt. A group of about 30 people rallied near the Vancouver Public Library in support of civil government in the country over military rule.
People also attended in solidarity with the protests in Syria, and Palestine solidarity.
The Police Killing of Farshad Mohammadi: Exposing the Root Causes
Submitted on January 21, 2012This piece is an expanded version of a text initially drafted for publication in two Montreal dailies.
Human Rights Groups Charge NATO with War Crimes in Libya
Submitted on January 21, 2012By Bill Van Auken - 21 January 2012
There is strong evidence that NATO carried out war crimes in its eight-month war for regime-change in Libya, according to a report released Thursday by Middle East human rights groups...The United Nations resolution authorizing “all necessary measures” to protect civilians was utilized as the justification for military actions against civilian targets in which many Libyans were killed and wounded, according to the groups’ investigation.
Pressure Israel, Not Iran
Submitted on January 21, 2012By MARJORIE COHN - January 18, 2012
In 1953, the CIA engineered a coup that replaced a democratic government in Iran with the vicious Shah. He ruled Iran with an iron hand for 25 years, wreaking torture and terror on Iranians while keeping Iran open to Western investment...The Iranian revolution overthrew the Shah, replacing him with a tyrannical theocracy that continues to violate the rights of the Iranian people. But that does not mean that Iran...will attack Israel. The Iranian government knows that Israel and the United States would retaliate with unimaginable military force that would devastate Iran...
Welcome to the Next Year of My Life
Submitted on January 21, 2012By Mandy Hiscocks - Thursday, January 19, 2012
Today is Monday, January 16th, and this is my first written dispatch from jail. It feels strange to write with paper and these little golf-sized pencils we get (no pens allowed) - it feels a bit like high school all over again. It also feels weird to write about what I've been doing the last few days; it's so mundane that I wonder how it can possibly be interesting. But one of the main ideas behind these dispatches is to share this experience. Which is what it is. So here goes!
The Torture of Mumia Abu-Jamal Continues Off Death Row: Supporters Demand Transfer to General Population
Submitted on January 20, 2012The Pennsylvania-based prison-activist organization called Human Rights Coalition explains that "Mumia may be in solitary, but he is not alone. The PA Department of Corrections holds approximately 2,500 people in solitary confinement on any given day, many of them for years at a time."
Wisconsinites v. Governor Scott Walker
Submitted on January 20, 2012Last winter's epic battle between Wisconsin public workers and Republican Governor Walker ended badly for social justice. Nonetheless, struggling for it continues.
Vancouver Cops Beat Man Taking Out Garbage
Submitted on January 20, 2012January 20, 2012 - CBC News
Manjit Singh says he had just taken his garbage out the curb of his home near Joyce Street and Kingsway when police approached him...Other officers then swarmed him and started beating him up..."One guy put the knee on my neck, one guy put the knee on my legs,” “They start kicking me … powerful kicks. Left, right, left, right"...“Why they attack on one innocent guy? They can talk to me nicely."
Waiting for False Prophets: The Puzzling Matter of the Israeli Liberals
Submitted on January 20, 2012By Ramzy Baroud - January 19th, 2012
While right wing Israeli parties are often dismissed as anti-peace and hawkish, the ‘liberal’ Zionists in the Israeli Left have been viewed by some as an alternative, capable of righting wrongs and achieving the long-awaited peace. These are mere ‘delusions’...“Scratch just a little below the surface and you discover that .. when it approaches the Palestinian person in particular, (Liberal Zionism) suddenly stops and fully reverses itself...”
Shit Students CAN'T Say on Campus (About Israel)
Submitted on January 20, 2012After "Shit Homophobes Say", the REAL crazy sh*t you CAN'T say on campus about Israel because of intimidation, censorship and legal threats. More info: http://seriouslyfreespeech.ca/sh-t
Beating Up on Hugo Chavez
Submitted on January 20, 2012Washington wants regime change in Venezuela.
U.S. and Israel Coordinate Strategy Against Iran
Submitted on January 20, 2012By Peter Symonds - 20 January 2012
US Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman General Martin Dempsey arrived in Israel yesterday for talks on Iran with top military and political leaders. As the Obama administration escalates its confrontation with Tehran, the obvious purpose of Dempsey’s visit is to coordinate hostile moves by the two countries against Iran.
U.S. State Politicians Push Drug Testing for Poor and Unemployed
Submitted on January 20, 2012By Phillip Smith - January 18, 2012
Faced with serious budget deficits as the economy continues sputtering through a weak recovery, would-be populists and small government conservatives see public benefits recipients as easy targets in their battle to ease the burdens of the taxpayers. With many Americans struggling hard to make ends meet, the narrative that welfare recipients or people receiving jobless benefits are just lazy junkies living [off taxpayers] resonates in some quarters.
Enbridge's Pipeline of Distortions
Submitted on January 20, 2012By Harsha Walia - January 19, 2012
"We're not foreign - these are our lands."
- Nadleh Whut'en Chief Larry Nooski commenting on Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Natural Resources Minister Joe Oliver's theories about radical foreign environmentalists and socialist billionaires hijacking the Enbridge Joint Review Panel hearings.
Charge G20 Cops, Police Watchdog Orders
Submitted on January 20, 2012By Dave Seglins - CBC News
Ontario's top police complaints watchdog has concluded five officers involved in the now infamous arrest of G20 protester Adam Nobody should be charged with misconduct for using unnecessary force and for discreditable conduct..."I'm very grateful somebody else believes me … and that other people are going to have to face retribution for attacking me...I was getting pummeled and beaten. Police officers were holding my arms."
Protesting Internet Censorship
Submitted on January 20, 2012Congressional Internet bills assure censorship if passed.
When will we see justice for Anas Benis?
Submitted on January 20, 2012Media reports continue to echo myths put forward by police, government
The following op-ed was submitted to The Gazette (in Montreal) on December 8, 2011, but was never published.
Commons Conference 2012 - Claudia Medina on 'Plunder of the Planet: the Ecological Crisis'
Submitted on January 19, 2012Claudia Medina speaks on the Plunder of the Planet: the Ecological Crisis panel at the Tragedy of the Market: from Crisis to Commons conference on January 8, 2012 in Burnaby BC Canada. Her presentation focuses on the Occupy movement as an anti-war movement, attempting to stop the war against Mother Earth.
Loneliness, and Space for the Other
Submitted on January 19, 2012A discussion on mental illness, isolation and public responsibility
HALIFAX--The pain and stigma that often accompanies mental illness affects everybody – even those who operate under the label "normal" – was a recurrent theme during a discussion among 85 people who gathered at Humani-T cafe in Halifax this evening.Traditionally, there is a heavy onus upon those with mental illness to conform to their society, but, we might ask, what adjus
Winning the battle, losing the war?
Submitted on January 19, 2012Ford loses control of council; City loses millions in budget fiasco
Toronto Mayor Rob Ford was dealt several major losses during Tuesday's budget meeting, as Council's 'mushy middle' rejected a radically conservative, anti-government budget and joined forces with opposition councillors to save a host of City services.
The World War on Democracy
Submitted on January 19, 2012By John Pilger - January 19, 2012
The sheer scale of suffering...is little known in the west...That the most numerous victims of terrorism – western terrorism – are Muslims is unsayable, if it is known...While popular culture in Britain and America immerses the Second World War in an ethical bath for the victors, the holocausts arising from Anglo-American dominance of resource-rich regions are consigned to oblivion.
CKUT's Off The Hour: Lights Out: Why an American Bill is Inspiring an Internet Black Out
Submitted on January 19, 2012Australian Mental Health Workers Fight for Improved Wages and Conditions
Submitted on January 19, 2012By Susan Allan - 19 January 2012
Mental health services are already in profound crisis, following decades of chronic underfunding...As a result, mental health workers and facilities are stretched to breaking point, with staff shortages and heavy workloads creating an unsafe working environment. Physical assaults in the workplace are increasing in frequency, and stress levels have created a staff retention crisis. Patients’ lives have also been placed at risk as a result of government policy.
The New Normal: Economic Weakness and Decline
Submitted on January 18, 2012On Friday, S & P cut credit ratings for nine EU countries, including France, Italy, Spain, Austria, Portugal, Malta, Slovenia, Slovakia and Cyprus. It was old news but not good.
Mexican Journalist Fighting Deportation Finds Support from Vancouver Activists
Submitted on January 18, 2012By David P. Ball - January 17th, 2012
Journalist Karla Berenice García Ramírez, 38, fled to Surrey, B.C. four years ago after blowing the whistle on corruption in a Mexican government ministry where she worked. Her writings about corruption and graft got her into hot water – bringing her harassment and ominous threats, she said – but despite her family's fears, she continued writing..."I started receiving death threats in 2003...I have received many threats by phone since then."
Economic and Military Pressures on Iran Escalate Global Tensions
Submitted on January 18, 2012By Bill Van Auken - 18 January 2012
Bordering both Iraq and Afghanistan and with significant influence in both countries, Iran has become an increasing preoccupation of US foreign policy amid the US military withdrawal from Iraq and the pending draw-down of US troops from Afghanistan. Tehran has opposed US efforts to establish a permanent military presence in both countries, while seeking to wrest control of the distribution of energy resources from US hands.
Obama Rejects Oilsands Pipeline from Canada
Submitted on January 18, 201218 January 2012 - Al Jazeera
US President Barack Obama has rejected the proposed Keystone XL oil pipeline from Canada, saying he could not vouch for its safety by a deadline despite intense election-year pressure...The rival Republican Party had forced Obama to make a decision on whether to approve the 2,700 km route through the Great Plains to Texas, forcing him to choose between environmentalists and industry.
Israel Planning Major Gaza War
Submitted on January 18, 2012Israel already threatens war on Iran. It's also involved with Washington, Turkey, Jordan, and other rogue Arab states behind Syria's externally generated insurgency. Gaza is also threatened.
Sadism in the Cell: Mumia Abu-Jamal Still in the Hole Thanks to Vindictive Prison System
Submitted on January 18, 2012By LINN WASHINGTON, Jr. - Counterpunch
Those intent on tormenting now ex-death-row inmate Mumia Abu-Jamal have done it again, this time perhaps even exceeding their past efforts to painfully harass this man widely perceived as a political prisoner...The latest punitive slap involves Pennsylvania prison authorities throwing Abu-Jamal into “Administrative Custody”...The draconian constraints of AC placement surpass the harsh restrictions of the death row isolation Abu-Jamal has endured for over a quarter century.
Web goes on strike to protest censorship-- PROTECT IP / SOPA Threatens Internet Freedoms
Submitted on January 18, 2012A web-wide protest has been called for in the lead up to the US senate vote on a bill known as PROTECT-IP (PIPA) which would give the government and corporations the ability to censor the net, in the name of protecting "creativity".
CKUT's Morning After: McGill Students to Launch Strike Movement January 24
Submitted on January 18, 2012Interview with McGill students, Jaime MacLean and Kevin Paul
The AUS Mobilization Committee has collected and submitted hundreds of
signatures in support of a General Assembly of the Society on Tuesday,
January 24, 2012. This GA represents an essential first step toward a
student strike at McGill in opposition to the Quebec government’s planned
tuition hike.
Wikipedia Shuts Down to Protest Censorship Bills
Submitted on January 18, 2012By Andre Damon - WSWS
Wikipedia, the free on-line encyclopedia, is shutting down for 24 hours today to protest internet censorship bills currently being considered by the US Congress...The protest is aimed against two bills, the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA), currently under consideration in the US House of Representatives, and its counterpart in the Senate, the Protect IP Act (PIPA). The laws would increase the government’s power over the Internet and its ability to shut down sites in the name of enforcing copyright law.
Muhammad Ali at 70: The Power to Knock Down Prison Walls
Submitted on January 18, 2012By Dave Zirin - January 18, 2012
Muhammad Ali's brilliance was not that he was an antiwar prophet. He wasn't Malcolm X in boxing gloves, debating foreign policy between rounds, jabbing his hands and then saying, "So how about that Cuban missile crisis"...Ali understood that there was justice and injustice, right and wrong. He knew that not taking a stand could be as political a statement as taking one.
Toronto Police Crack Heads as Major Budget Cuts Reversed [Video]
Submitted on January 18, 2012By Justin Saunders - Toronto Media Co-op
Approximately two hundred people were in chambers for the vote; almost ten times that number remained outside, prevented from entering by a line of police officers mixed with City Hall security. Attempts to enter the building for the vote were met with violence, as a number of individuals were hit and pepper sprayed. A small horse-mounted riot squad moved on the crowd. Several arrests were made, people were beaten and choked, and an elderly man was thrown to the ground. At least one person was taken to...hospital.
Viva La Revolucion!
Submitted on January 18, 2012Valentina Latorre to Hold Teach-In for Nova Scotia's Students
As Nova Scotia's Universities stand to suffer yet more cut-backs, and higher tuitions, it seems like time to call in the reinforcements...
Toronto Stop the Cuts Budget Rally- Police Confrontation
Submitted on January 18, 2012Toronto Stop the Cuts Budget Rally- Police Confrontation outside of City Hall -January 17, 2012
Related stories from the Toronto Media Co-op:
Justin Saunders "Police Crack Heads as Major Budgets Cuts Reversed", January 18th
Stop The Cuts: Final Budget Showdown: Toronto vs Rob Ford!
Submitted on January 18, 2012Photo Essay: Toronto Stop The Cuts - January 17, 2012
Submitted on January 17, 2012For more information on this Toronto Stop the Cuts rally and the movement in general, see these related Media Co-op stories:
Police crack heads as major budget cuts reversed
Submitted on January 17, 2012Toronto residents are breathing slightly easier after a long awaited City Council vote on large cuts to core city services took place earlier tonight. The cuts, part of the proposed 2012 city budget, have been looming ever since Mayor Rob Ford manufactured a budget crisis upon taking office.
The Left is Dead - Long Live the Platypus
Submitted on January 17, 2012Andony Melathopoulos thinks the left is dead. But he's not happy about it. Indeed, the driving force behind the Halifax chapter of the Platypus Affiliated Society is part forensic investigator, part Dr.
Mitt Romney's Hard-Right Agenda
Submitted on January 17, 2012Romney represents wealth, power and more war.
Abusing East Jerusalem Children
Submitted on January 17, 2012Israel tortures and abuses Palestinian children as young as 6.
Guantánamo: A Decade of U.S. Torture and Repression
Submitted on January 17, 2012By Bill Van Auken - 13 January 2012
The Bush administration established the detention center [at Guantánamo Bay Naval Base in Cuba] with the explicit aim of holding prisoners as “enemy combatants”, a term invented to deny them any rights either under the US Constitution as criminal defendants or under the Geneva Conventions as prisoners of war. The Bush Justice Department ruled that the naval base lay outside the jurisdiction of any American court, and therefore those held there could seek no legal redress over their imprisonment.
A MESSAGE FROM THE COALITION JUSTICE FOR LEVI
Submitted on January 17, 2012Collateral Savages
Submitted on January 17, 2012By LINH DINH - Counterpunch
As I write this, the US is encircling, harassing and sabotaging Iran, yet few Americans seem alarmed that for the sake of oil, again, and that increasingly elusive economic growth, their leaders may kill millions and wreck this earth even further, but as their empire convulses and collapses, most Americans will find themselves reduced to the level of those they’ve been annihilating. They will discover that they, too, are just collateral savages.
Rahm Ramps Up the Repression: New Protest Rules Ahead of G-8/NATO Meetings in Chicago
Submitted on January 17, 2012By Matt Reichel - January 16, 2012
Ahead of the overlapping G-8 and NATO summits in Chicago scheduled for May 19th-21st, Mayor Rahm Emanuel has ramped up the repression of principled dissent in a city that has quite the history of it...“Rahmbo” has introduced two new ordinances that would overhaul the city’s existing laws dealing with protests and parades...[T]he measures include increased fines for resisting arrest, reduced opening hours for public parks, and much stricter parade regulations. Together, they appear to be an effort to stifle free speech under the guise of defending the public from unwieldy “anarchists.”
The 0 0 0 Sum Game of Business Unionism in Toronto
Submitted on January 17, 2012By David Bush - Toronto Media Co-op
Honestly I don’t get it...On the eve of Toronto’s budget battle [Canadian Union of Public Employees] 416, representing 6000 outside workers, publicly announced it would be willing to take a 3 year deal that would freeze wages. CUPE 416′s President Mark Ferguson justified the position by stating that the move will save money for services. The union leadership hopes the move to eat a three year wage freeze...will show the public that it is bargaining in good faith...On Monday the city said that the wage freeze was not good enough...In effect it wants to break the union.
Halifax Peace Coalition Remembers Dr. Martin Luther King
Submitted on January 16, 2012Members Pass Out Information At Stadacona Air Force Base in Halifax
In a case of tradition born of necessity, the Halifax Peace Coalition kept its annual sunrise vigil for peace at the gates of Stadacona Air Force Base in Halifax, Nova Scotia, on Martin Luther King's birthday. It is on Stadacona where an in-base Lockheed Martin office is the ultimate blurring of lines between corporation, military, and state.
Cruel and Unusual Punishment
Submitted on January 16, 2012America is the only country sentencing juveniles to life without parole.
Sinai Torture Camps
Submitted on January 16, 2012Asylum seekers and refugees are abducted, tortured and held for ransom.
Georgia Republican Who Supports Random Drug Tests for Welfare Recipients Arrested for Drunk Driving
Submitted on January 16, 2012By Kristen Gwynne - January 16, 2012
[Georgia] State Representative Kip Smith failed a breathalyser test on Friday morning, leading police officers to charge him with a [Driving Under the Influence]...Smith is a co-sponsor of Georgia House Bill 464, which would require random drug testing for people receiving public assistance, and kick them out of programs if their urine comes up dirty.
Washington’s Crimes Against Iran
Submitted on January 16, 2012By Peter Symonds - WSWS
In reality, the killing of top nuclear scientists and the sabotage of facilities was never to stop or significantly hinder Iran’s nuclear programs, which Tehran has repeatedly insisted are for peaceful purposes. Rather, the murders are provocations calculated to incite retaliation by Tehran that can, in turn, be exploited to further demonise Iran and provide the pretext for war.
Tactics and Timing: Interview with Carolyn Egan from 'Respect Toronto'
Submitted on January 16, 2012For their story 'Tensions and Tactics in the Struggle Against Rob Ford" and associated video on organizing differences between Stop the Cu
Balaclava! VMC Broadsheet Issue 35
Submitted on January 16, 2012Planned Regime Change in Iran and Syria
Submitted on January 16, 2012Plans are longstanding. Timing alone isn’t known. Signs suggest 2012. If sanctions, subversion, cyberwar, and targeted assassinations fail, expect hot conflict to follow.
Stephen Harper and the Big Oil Party of Canada
Submitted on January 16, 2012By Murray Dobbin - January 16, 2012
Stephen Harper muses about the evil being practiced by environmental and "other radical groups" as they engage in the democratic process provided to them...by his government...This follows Harper's repeated talk about the pipeline being necessary for the good of the country and the economy -- and his declaration that anyone who criticizes the tar sands or the pipeline is sabotaging the economy. He calls them "ideological." But ideology is meaning in the service of power -- and all of it to date is coming from Harper and Big Oil.
Candlelight Vigil for Unity ~ A Worldwide Solidarity Rally
Submitted on January 15, 2012Candlelight Vigil for Unity is part of Occupy Nova Scotias New Years Revolution ~ A Month of Actions. Today is a candlelight vigil in solidarity with occupy sites around the world to show that they all can still stand for a common cause.
Dr. Glen Coulthard in Halifax
Submitted on January 15, 2012Audio Productions From Both of Dr. Coulthard's Halifax Talks
Dr. Glen Coulthard is a member of the Yellowknives Dene and a scholar of contemporary Indigenous politics and political thought. He is an Assistant Professor in First Nations Studies and the Department of Political Science at the University of British Colombia in Vancouver, Coast Salish Territory.
Occupy NS to Participate in International Bahrain Solidarity Day
Submitted on January 15, 2012Occupy NS will assemble in solidarity along with 1,000,000 activists around the globe for an international day of solidarity at Grand Parade Square.
The Enough! Bahrain Solidarity rally will take place in Grand Parade Square, January 17th at 5 pm.
No Fracking Way ~ Provincial Day of Action
Submitted on January 15, 2012Occupy Nova Scotia presents A Provincial Day of Action - No Fracking Way. A rally against fracking in Nova Scotia during Occupy Nova Scotia's New Years Revolution where member hold an event a day on various topics. Todays being about Fracking.
Criminalizing Dissent in America
Submitted on January 15, 2012America has a sordid repressive history. Among others, First Amendment rights are violated.
G20 Fallout Continues
Submitted on January 15, 2012By Shailagh Keaney - January 13, 2012
Though the G20 summit in Toronto is long over, communities organizing against austerity continue to feel the sting of state repression. Of the over 1,100 people arrested in conjunction with protests against the G20 meetings in Toronto, 66 still face legal battles, house arrest and jail time...On November 22, 11 of the 17 people facing a complex set of conspiracy charges had their charges dropped. As part of a plea bargain, the other six will serve more jail time.
Why Is Obama Sending 12,000 U.S. Troops to Libya?
Submitted on January 15, 2012By Cynthia McKinney - January 14th, 2012
Now, from Libya, reports are that even while the Misrata rebels...attempted to scale the petroleum platforms in Brega (an important oil town in Libya), they were annihilated by the Apache helicopters of their own NATO allies. A resistance Libyan doctor-become-journalist reported yesterday that all of the petroleum platforms are occupied by NATO and that warships occupy Libya’s ports. Photographs show Italian encampments in the desert with an announcement that the French are to follow.
South Africa: ANC Centenary a Display of Elite Power
Submitted on January 15, 2012By Ayanda Kota - January 15, 2012
The centenary celebrations of the African National Congress (ANC) are being used to persuade the people that a movement that has betrayed the people is our government; a government that obeys the people, instead of a government of the elites, for the elites and by the elites. It is a hugely expensive spectacle designed to drug us against our own oppression and disempowerment...[H]ere our politicians are not mere managers. They are...a predatory elite with their own class interests and they support capital and repress the people as long as they can get their own share.
No Fracking Way!
Submitted on January 15, 2012Provincial Day of Action against Fracking in Nova Scotia
Saturday, January 14th was the Nova Scotia Provincial Day of Action against Fracking.
Heading for More Middle East War
Submitted on January 14, 2012Washington plans regime change in Iran and Syria.
Stop. Respect. Occupy. Tensions and Tactics in the Struggle Against Rob Ford.
Submitted on January 14, 2012Stop. Respect. Occupy. Tensions and Tactics in the Struggle Against Rob Ford.
Submitted on January 14, 2012The U.S. and Its Middle East Proxies
Submitted on January 14, 2012By Chris Marsden - WSWS
The United States, Turkey and the Gulf States are actively preparing a military intervention in Syria. Russia’s security services claim to have concrete evidence of an imminent shift to a “Libyan scenario” of “direct military intervention,” beginning with establishing a no-fly zone — the very device that was used to sanction NATO’s bombardment of Libya.
Racist Israeli Supreme Court Decisions
Submitted on January 14, 2012Israeli Arabs are unwelcome, unwanted and persecuted.
G20 Defendant Mandy Hiscocks Statement to the Court
Submitted on January 14, 2012By Mandy Hiscocks - Friday, January 13, 2012
On Friday, January 13, 2012, Mandy was sentenced to 16 months in prison.
"...I don't have the power to change what happens in this legal system. I'm trying to indicate why I don't respect this legal system...The crown wants this sentence to be a deterrent. It won't be. Please take a second to have a good look around the room. When I get taken out of here do you think you'll have increased anyone's faith in the system?...I am certainly not deterred, I'm just angry."
Republican Thug Says He'd "Stomp a Mudhole" in Transgender People Who Came Near His Family in a Dressing Room
Submitted on January 14, 2012By Lauren Kelley - AlterNet
Today's award for bigotry and intolerance goes to one Richard Floyd, a [Republican] State Rep. from Tennessee who has introduced legislation that would ban transgender individuals from using public restrooms and dressing rooms that are not designated for the gender listed on their birth certificates. What's more, Rep. Floyd said in a recent interview that if he "was standing at a dressing room and my wife or one of my daughters was in the dressing room and a man tried to go in there" (by which he means a transgender person), he would "stomp a mudhole" in that person.
The "Liberal" Media and American Foreign Policy
Submitted on January 14, 2012By GREGORY HARMS - January 13-15, 2012
The New York Times’ coverage during the run-up to the invasion of Iraq...was largely in-step with the Bush II administration...Even when the United States is not about to invade and occupy a country, coverage of official Washington’s core interests is generally gracious...[T]he principal doctrines of US state power are usually treated gently, with criticism taking place within acceptable limitations: talk of tactical matters, mistakes, misjudgments, and lack of planning instead of fundamental issues like international law, human rights...and further inspiration of terrorist reprisal.
John Clarke on Stop the Cuts and Respect Toronto
Submitted on January 14, 2012Interview for "Tensions Surface in Rally Against Ford"
For an upcoming story and video, Megan Kinch and Zack Ruiter did in-depth interviews with organizers from Stop the Cuts (John Clarke of OCAP and S. K. Hussan of NOII), Occupy Toronto (Octavian Cadabeschi, Brandon Grey and Jordon White) and David McNally, a Professor at York University and Carolyn Egan, President of the Steelworker Toronto Area Council.
Off The Hour: Report on sentencing of Mandy Hiscocks, G20 arrestee
Submitted on January 14, 2012Interview with Toronto organizer SK Hussan & excerpts of Hiscocks' statement to the court
On Friday, Mandy Hiscocks, one of the seven out of 21 so-called "main G20 conspirators" who pleaded guilty last November, was sented to 16 months in prison on charges of counselling to commit mischief over $5,000 and counselling to obstruct police. Neither Mandy nor any of her co-accused were found guilty of conspiracy.
Canada to Revive Anti-Democratic "Counter-Terrorism" Powers
Submitted on January 14, 2012By Vic Neufeld - 14 January 2012
Although the press has accorded it little attention, the Conservatives have proclaimed their intention to push through legislation reviving the police’s power to detain terrorism suspects without charge and compel persons deemed of “interest” in a terrorism investigation to provide them information...In Canada, as in all the major capitalist countries, the terrorist attacks of September 2001 have been used to justify imperialist war abroad, a vast expansion of police powers and the national security apparatus, and the criminalization of dissent.
Caterpillar Destroys Homes from Ontario to Palestine: Standing Up to Corporate Bullies
Submitted on January 14, 2012By David Heap - January 13, 2012
Caterpillar has an ugly history of using strong-arm union-bashing tactics to roll back wages, close plants and move manufacturing to lower-wage jurisdictions. They also supply equipment, like the D9 armoured bulldozer, which is used by the Israeli army to destroy Palestinian homes. The corporation refuses to acknowledge responsibility for the thousands of homes demolished in the West Bank and Gaza using Caterpillar equipment.
Waging Covert War on Iran
Submitted on January 13, 2012Washington and Israel plan regime change in Iran and Syria. Israel wants regional supremacy. Washington wants global hegemony and control of the world's strategic resources.
UK Labour Party Commits to Long-Term Austerity
Submitted on January 13, 2012By Julie Hyland - WSWS
The packaging of austerity measures as a deficit-reduction strategy was always a fiction. Like governments across Europe, the [Conservative-Liberal Democrat] coalition is using the economic crisis caused by the speculative and criminal actions of the super-rich to fundamentally restructure class relations in line with the demands of the finance markets, banks and major corporations...Labour was always at one with this policy...[T]he de facto alliance between Labour, the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats against the working class has been made explicit.
Why Harper Wants More Poor Canadians
Submitted on January 13, 2012By Donald Gutstein - January 13, 2012
Is Stephen Harper's goal for Canada the United States of today?...That would mean a nation in which somewhere between a half and a third of its citizens have fallen into poverty or are hovering just above, in low income. This according to latest data released by the U.S. Census Bureau. Meanwhile, 400 Americans are worth more than $1 billion.
Ongoing Global Economic Crisis
Submitted on January 13, 2012Lower real median income, rising consumer debt, skyrocketing federal levels, banker bailouts, permanent wars, and other wrongheaded policies assure decline and perhaps collapse.
Free Speech Is On Thin Ice
Submitted on January 13, 2012By Amir Alwani
Potent News
January 13, 2012
Is anybody noticing all the flak journalists are getting for trying to do their jobs lately? Free speech of any kind seems to be under attack. It is fairly common now to see people getting arrested for video-taping police officers. To add insult to injury, SOPA/PIPA threatens free speech and spells RED ALERT to almost everyone willing to look at the facts. Do any of you think you'll get anywhere by submitting to any of this, sugar coating it, or looking the other way? Now is the time to make ourselves heard. When someone encroaches on our liberty we have a duty to fight back.
Israel's Draconian Infiltration Law
Submitted on January 13, 2012On January 10, Haaretz writer Jonathan Lis headlined, "Knesset passes (Law to Prevent Infiltration) that could put asylum seekers in jail without trial," saying: "The bill would make 'illegal' migrants and asylum seekers liable to jail, without trial or deportation, if caught staying in Israel for 'long periods.'"
Iranian Nuclear Scientist Assassinated in Tehran
Submitted on January 13, 2012By Alex Lantier - 12 January 2012
Iranian nuclear scientist Professor Mostafa Ahmadi Roshan, 32, was killed yesterday in a bomb blast in Tehran. Witnesses saw motorcyclists attach a magnetic explosive device to his car before the blast...It is widely acknowledged, even in the pages of the bourgeois press in the United States and allied countries, that the Western powers are mounting a covert terrorist campaign to destroy Iran’s nuclear infrastructure.
How the Most Lopsided Trade in NBA History Explains the World
Submitted on January 13, 2012By Dave Zirin - January 12, 2012
When you study the rosters of all thirty National Basketball Association teams or even casually watch a game, you find yourself facing two stubborn facts: (1) every team possesses an international mosaic of talent; (2) the last All-Star produced by the high schools of New York City is 32 years old and just changed his name to Metta World Peace.
Solidarité avec Farshad Mohammadi, tué par un agent du SPVM
Submitted on January 13, 2012extrait sonore d'une commémoration pour Farshad Mohammadi tenue le 10 janvier au métro Bonaventure
Commons Conference 2012: Dorothy Kidd on Communications Commons and Grassroots Media
Submitted on January 12, 2012Dorothy Kidd, Associate Professor at Dept of Media Studies at the University of San Francisco, received her Ph.D. in Communication from Simon Fraser University in Vancouver, Canada. She has published in the areas of political economy of media, feminist media and social change and alternative/community media.
The Media Co-op is hiring: Toronto-based editor
Submitted on January 12, 2012The Media Co-op is looking for a Toronto-based editor to co-ordinate coverage and work with contributors and Media Co-op members in Toronto.
The Editor will bottom-line development of content for The Dominion from Toronto and will contribute to developing national content along with the other members of the Media Co-op editorial collective.
Haiti: Two Years Later
Submitted on January 12, 2012Haiti remains devastated two years after its catastrophic earthquake.
U.S. Prepares for War Against China
Submitted on January 12, 2012By Peter Symonds - WSWS
The Pentagon’s military reorientation to Asia goes hand-in-hand with an aggressive US diplomatic offensive to undercut growing Chinese economic and political influence throughout Asia and internationally. Powerful sections of the US political and foreign policy establishment backed Obama for the presidency in 2008 out of deep concern that China had gained while the US was mired in the Bush administration’s wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The Next War on Washington's Agenda
Submitted on January 12, 2012By PAUL CRAIG ROBERTS - January 12, 2012
Only the blind do not see that the US government is preparing to attack Iran. Washington has deployed missiles directed at Iran in its oil emirate puppet states, Oman and the [United Arab Emirates]...Most recently, Washington has deployed 9,000 US troops to Israel to participate in “war games” designed to test the US/Israeli air defense system. As Iran represents no threat unless attacked, Washington’s war preparations signal Washington’s intention to attack Iran.
Harper Thinks Fighting Pipelines Is Un-Canadian
Submitted on January 12, 2012By Tria Donaldson - rabble.ca
Prime Minister Harper has made it clear that he values promoting the tar sands over protecting the environment and investing in climate solutions...Perhaps worst of all, the Harper government has taken to suggesting that people who are concerned about climate change are un-Canadian, or "extremist." These are extremely irresponsible and harmful efforts to suppress dissent.
Unaccountable: Private Military Contractor Abuses
Submitted on January 11, 2012PMC Blackwater types are rogue killers.
First Montreal Police Killing of 2012 Raises Serious Concerns
Submitted on January 11, 2012By Tim McSorley - Coop Média de Montréal
Farshad Mohammadi...was shot by a Montreal police officer at Bonaventure metro station on the afternoon of Friday, Jan. 6...Preliminary reports are that Mohammadi had been sleeping at the metro station when he was approached by two police officers. It is unclear what happened next, but one of the officers suffered cuts to the face, neck and torso allegedly from Mohammadi...Eyewitnesses have said that Mohammadi was not threatening any others in the metro and appeared calm as he walked towards the metro exit.
After Iran, Venezuela?
Submitted on January 11, 2012By MIKE WHITNEY - January 10, 2012
“The build-up against Venezuela that began during the George W. Bush administration has rapidly accelerated under Obama.”
– Eva Golinger, author of The Chávez Code: Cracking US Intervention in Venezuela
Australian Labor Government Steps Up Secret Surveillance of Protests
Submitted on January 11, 2012By Mike Head - WSWS
Documents released...under freedom of information laws have shed light on the Labor government’s increasing use of the security apparatus...to monitor protesters and anyone else regarded as a threat to Australian corporate interests...As a result of the “counter-terrorism” legislation introduced over the past decade, [Australian Security Intelligence Organisation] and the [Australian Federal Police]...have extensive powers, including to secretly search premises, intercept telecommunications, hack into computers and detain people for interrogation or investigation.
Palestinian Liberation Requires Unity
Submitted on January 11, 2012Israel promotes divisions and violence.
ACTION ALERT: Transfer Mumia Abu-Jamal to General Population!
Submitted on January 11, 2012Last month, following the Philadelphia DA's decision to not hold a new sentencing hearing, Mumia Abu-Jamal was transferred to SCI Mahanoy, in Frackville, PA, where he as since been held in "Administrative Custody." His present conditions are actually worse than they were on death row at SCI Greene. Please join us in our call for Mumia to be immediately transferred into general population.
U.S. Renews Military Threat Against Iran
Submitted on January 11, 2012By Peter Symonds - 11 January 2012
The US administration responded to Iran’s announcement last weekend that its Fordo uranium enrichment plant was operational with renewed threats of military action...[US Defence Secretary Leon] Panetta is threatening a devastating US military attack on Iranian nuclear and military facilities under the pretext that Tehran is developing nuclear arms.
Crown Land Lease Revision Connected to Port Hawkesbury Mill is Needed, Overdue
Submitted on January 10, 20121961 Land Lease to Stora Expired Last Year, No Longer Reflects Current Conditions, say EAC's Miller & Plourde
“In 1961 we leveraged a tremendous amount of Crown Land to get a company to come to Nova Scotia,” says Matt Miller, Forestry Program Coordinator at the Ecology Action Centre in Halifax. “The focus was only on jobs and wood supply, and we gave them complete and utter control of 40% of the Crown Land in the province, 1 in 9 acres.”
Systematic West Bank Settler Violence
Submitted on January 10, 2012Israeli settler violence is longstanding, troubling, and largely without accountability.
Israel Plans More Walls
Submitted on January 10, 2012Israel's walls are for land theft, not security.
Racist Discrimination Against Israeli Arabs
Submitted on January 10, 2012Israel discriminates against and persecutes non-Jewish citizens.
OFL and CAW Visit The Locked Out Workers in London Ontario
Submitted on January 10, 2012Our friends with the Occupy London Ontario Media Team have been doing some great coverage of the lockout at the Catipilliar plant. The corporation is trying to slash the wages (by 50%) and benefits of workers with an offer they know can never be accepted by the workers, and seems to be planning to move the plant to the United States to take advantage of ununionized workers.
4 Creepy Ways Big Pharma Peddles its Drugs
Submitted on January 10, 2012By Martha Rosenberg - January 9, 2012
So, how does Pharma dupe us into using unsafe drugs? Today's drug ads, targeted directly to consumers since 1999, seem like they sell diseases and often cast women, children, the elderly and mentally ill in a bad light. But a quick look at ads before direct-to-consumer advertising (DTC) in medical journals shows that drug ads have always done so. It's just that patients didn't use to see them...Here are some of Pharma's most offensive ad campaigns, then and now.
First Montreal police killing of 2012 raises serious concerns
Submitted on January 10, 2012Groups condemn police actions, call for independent inquiry and better resources for city's homeless
The first fatal police shooting of the year in Montreal is raising questions and criticisms about how the incident is being investigated, the training afforded to police officers in dealing with the city's homeless population, and the amount of services provided for people living on the streets or in transition - especially those with mental health or substance abuse issues.
Inverness County Passes Resolution For Increased Say in Oil and Gas Exploration
Submitted on January 10, 2012But Does it Have the Wording to Stop Petroworth?
Yesterday, Inverness County council unanimously passed a resolution that aims to increase the municipality's clout when it comes making decisions on oil and gas exploration.
Files attached to this post:
Coercive Attrition and the Occupy Movement: Oakland’s Dirty War
Submitted on January 9, 2012By GEORGE CICCARIELLO-MAHER - January 09, 2012
Recent weeks have seen the Occupy Movement confronted with a war of attrition nationwide: as cold weather sets in, many cities have opted to wait out the movement, allowing excitement to fade and the movement to devour itself in the petty squabbles of disempowerment...But it is in Oakland more than anywhere else that friendly weather and sustained militancy have given rise to a different approach, one similarly premised on chipping away at the movement through attrition and fatigue but doing so in a far more repressive manner.
A simple campaign asks a big question
Submitted on January 9, 2012Can You Solve This? movement arrives in Halifax
A small group of Mount Saint Vincent students launched the Halifax chapter of the Can You Solve This? campaign on Jan. 9.
Illinois Teacher Commits Suicide Citing Bad Working Conditions
Submitted on January 9, 2012By Kristina Betinis - 9 January 2012
Mary Thorson, a 32-year-old physical education teacher at Cottage Grove Upper Grade Center in Ford Heights, Illinois, took her own life on November 24, 2011. The note she left at the scene of her death was devoted almost entirely to the conditions in the Ford Heights school district...More than 98 percent of students in [Ford Heights]...live below the poverty line...Thorson wrote of extreme hardships faced by the students, the school administration’s disregard for teachers, and the lack of resources available in the district.
Freedom: An Endangered Species in America
Submitted on January 9, 2012The U.S. is now a police state.
Balaclava! 35 VMC Broadsheet
Submitted on January 9, 2012Disrupting prisons, pipeline companies and the ports
The 35th edition of Balaclava! looks at the CCAP 2011 Hotel Report, and follows the port and prison disruptions from the end of the year.
Download it here.
Files attached to this post:
Welfare Cuts to Make 800,000 More UK Homes Unaffordable
Submitted on January 9, 2012By Dennis Moore - 9 January 2012
Welfare cuts will put a further 800,000 homes out of reach of those claiming housing benefit...This month saw the introduction of the capping of housing benefit payments that will leave many low-income families with a stark choice: either to pay the rent by cutting essential spending on food and heating, or move out of the home they are living in.
Marwan Barghouti: Prisoner of Conscience
Submitted on January 9, 2012Barghouti was illegally prosecuted, convicted and imprisoned.
The Margaret Thatcher Movie We Don't Need
Submitted on January 9, 2012By Laura Flanders - January 09, 2012
People can debate the successes and failures of “the Thatcher era” all they like. One thing’s for certain: we don’t need a new one, because the old one’s still here. The consequences of the [policies] Thatcher pioneered and made respectable...can be measured in public costs and private profits on both sides of the Atlantic. More damning, even, is the enduring cultural habit of denial...and the political practice of silence — shutting the problem people up.
We Call Ourselves Canada's Ocean Playground
Submitted on January 9, 2012El Jones' Spoken Word Piece from St. Pat's Rally
Editors' Note: Accomplished spoken-word artist El Jones was among the many who rallied at St. Pat's-Alexandra yesterday in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Jones was kind enough to send a copy of the piece she prepared and read at the rally to the HMC.
Montreal-designed video game features Occupy-themed terrorists
Submitted on January 8, 2012Ubisoft is one of the world's largest video game companies, and is known for producing blockbuster first person shooter games, including the Rainbow Six series, based on the work of novellist Tom Clancy.
Obama's New Military Strategy
Submitted on January 8, 2012Obama's January 5 Pentagon news conference reeked of duplicity like all his pronouncements. Stressing a leaner, more agile/flexible military, he said counter-terrorism, intelligence and cyber-warfare will be emphasized without sacrificing America's superiority against global enemies. So will subversion, destabilization, drone killings, other targeted assassinations, global state terrorism, and permanent war.
The Neo-Con Propaganda Machine Pushing "Regime Change" in Syria
Submitted on January 8, 2012By AISLING BYRNE - Counterpunch Weekend Edition
What we are seeing in Syria is a deliberate and calculated campaign to bring down the Assad government so as to replace it with a regime “more compatible” with US interests in the region...Not for the first time are we seeing a close alliance between US/British neo-cons with Islamists...working together to bring about regime change in an “enemy” state.
Budget Showdown: Victoria Barnett on Stop the Cuts
Submitted on January 8, 2012Victoria Barnett feels lucky to speak on behalf of a network that has been growing ever since Toronto Mayor Rob Ford’s inauguration.
Convictions for 1993 Racist Murder Used to Exonerate UK Police
Submitted on January 8, 2012By Julie Hyland - WSWS
Gary Dobson and David Norris were sentenced this week to 15 and 14 years in prison respectively for the racist killing of 18-year-old Stephen Lawrence in Eltham, south east London on April 22, 1993...The Metropolitan [London] Police, the judiciary, media and the political establishment proclaim as one that justice has finally been done. Their self-congratulation is not only nauseating, but also misleading.
Libyan Violence and Instability
Submitted on January 8, 2012NATO's killing machine ravaged a nonbelligerent country posing no threat. Violence followed stability.
Comparing the After Action Reports of the Olympics and the G20
Submitted on January 8, 2012A month ago, I received the RCMP V2010ISU After Action Report. I requested this document after the G20 papers were released and when I got the G20 AAR. Instead of just releasing the one document, I'm going to be posting both for download.
Targeting Journalists Covering OWS Protests
Submitted on January 8, 2012Journalists are singled out and targeted and have been harassed, arrested, handcuffed, and beaten for doing their job.
The U.S. National Defense Authorization Act: Why Now?
Submitted on January 8, 2012By Marti Hiken and Luke Hiken - January 7th, 2012
Barack Obama just signed into law one of the most repressive and right-wing pieces of legislation ever passed in the history of the country: the 2012 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). It allows the military...to determine who is a “terrorist” and to detain that person in prison, indefinitely, without trial, under its jurisdiction. It makes no difference whether the person is a U.S. citizen or a foreign “enemy combatant.”
Fallujah Babies: Doctors and Residents Blame U.S. Weapons for Catastrophic Levels of Birth Defects in Newborns
Submitted on January 8, 2012By Dahr Jamail - 06 Jan 2012
While the US military has formally withdrawn from Iraq, doctors and residents of Fallujah are blaming weapons like depleted uranium and white phosphorous used during two devastating US attacks on Fallujah in 2004 for what are being described as "catastrophic" levels of birth defects and abnormalities..."We have all kinds of defects now, ranging from congenital heart disease to severe physical abnormalities, both in numbers you cannot imagine..."
Fair Process Makes Good Progress
Submitted on January 8, 2012North End Community Demands Council Revisit Sale of St.Pat's-Alexandra
“We want our children to grow up to be architects and engineers too,” said Rev. Rhonda Britton, addressing the crowd of close to 200 gathered outside of the former St. Patrick's Alexandra school.
NGOs in India
Submitted on January 8, 2012By Girish Mishra - Znet
It is to be noted that those who run NGOs are, by and large, leading comfortable [lives], frequently hopping from one place to the other by air and staying in luxurious hotels. People at large are just a façade to hide their connections with [Multinational Corporations] and international organizations, controlled by Western governments. While, never raising even a small finger against the corporations and imperialists, they always try to denigrate elected governments, parliamentary systems and political parties.
Why We Can't Trust Stephen Harper's History of the War of 1812
Submitted on January 8, 2012By Derrick O'Keefe - January 6, 2012
Over the next few years, the Harper government will spend tens of millions of dollars celebrating the 200th anniversary of the War of 1812...[The] hype about a war fought 200 years ago is in part designed to reinforce a false image of consensus in Canada today. In this way Harper's War of 1812 obscures the reality of Harper's political and resource wars of 2012.
Commons Conference 2012: Russell Myers on Williams Lake and Solidarity
Submitted on January 8, 2012Russell Myers speaks about Williams Lake and what solidarity with indigenous struggles looks like.
Commons Conference 2012: Glen Coulthard on Indigineity, Education and Media
Submitted on January 8, 2012Glen Coulthard, an assistant professor in the First Nations Studies Program and the Department of Political Science at UBC speaks about indigineity and the commons.
Canada's Tough on Crime Agenda and its Immediate Effects
Submitted on January 7, 2012By Nicole Kish - Toronto Media Co-op
A regression is occurring within our country. The Canadian judicial system is reverting to a “tough on crime” mentality...This is being done in the name of safety and security within society. Yet for all the claims these approaches make, what can factually be said for a judicial system that is “tough on crime”?...Unfortunately, one of the most problematic issues with the implementation of such judicial actions is its focus on the immediate, short term results. As history has informed us, that which offers the most stark and promising immediate result often bares adverse, if not dangerous, consequences down the line.
Obama Unveils War Strategy Focused on China
Submitted on January 7, 2012By Bill Van Auken - 7 January 2012
The military strategy unveiled by President Barack Obama Thursday keeps massive spending on the US war machine largely intact, while shifting its focus decisively toward China...The guidance calls for a fundamental re-orientation of American military power toward the Asia-Pacific region, while affirming its commitment to maintaining US military control over the oil-rich Persian Gulf.
Ron Paul's Strange Bedfellows
Submitted on January 7, 2012By Katha Pollitt - January 07, 2012
In a Ron Paul America, there would be no environmental protection, no Social Security, no Medicaid or Medicare, no help for the poor, no public education, no civil rights laws, no anti-discrimination law, no Americans With Disabilities Act, no laws ensuring the safety of food or drugs or consumer products, no workers’ rights...In Ron Paul’s America, if you weren’t prudent enough or wealthy enough to buy private [health-care] insurance...you find a charity or die.
Lawful Access: Some of the people who want to spy on us
Submitted on January 6, 2012The National Child Exploitation Coordination Centre is a part of the RCMP that prosecutes Child Abuse. This includes finding users of child pornography, or CP for short. I've added the video above to illustrate how their document regarding their desire to have Lawful Access legislation to track down pedophiles who use CP.
Canada's Tough on Crime Agenda and its Immediate Effects
Submitted on January 6, 2012East to West: Eleven picks from 2011!
Submitted on January 6, 2012Happy 2012!
We're excited to kick off another year of digging deeper, bringing you relevant, timely stories, and building co-operative media together across Canada!
Last year was a busy one, with lots of great coverage both from the growing local media co-ops and from The Dominion.
State Files Appeal of G20 Defendant Ryan Rainville's Sentence
Submitted on January 6, 2012January 6, 2012 - Toronto Media Co-op
On December 20th 2011, a member of the G20 Investigative Team came to his home at Sagatay Men's Residence to serve [Ryan Rainville] with an appeal of his sentence. The implication of this action is that his sentence is too light. It is clear that Ryan’s pride in his convictions and anarchist values have led them to target him in an attempt to send a clear message to other anarchists, that our politics and bodies will be criminalized if we do not fall in line.
Family of Slain Texas Teen Condemns Police Shooting
Submitted on January 6, 2012By Kate Randall - WSWS
The police account of the sniper-style shooting sounds like the taking down of a terror suspect. According to police radio recordings referred to by the interim police chief, police entered the school and shouted that they saw the boy with what appeared to be a firearm. A police officer yells, “Take him out!” and then the sound of fired shots reverberates on the radio call. An officer then repeats, “Subject shot.”
Palestinian Children Oppressively Detained in Isolation
Submitted on January 6, 2012Israel frequently isolates adults and children, notably Palestinians. It spurns all international laws with impunity, including those pertaining to war, occupation, and fundamental humanitarian and human rights.
7 Reasons the Mental Health Industry Is a Threat to Our Sanity
Submitted on January 6, 2012By Bruce E. Levine - January 6, 2012
The majority of psychiatrists, psychologists and other mental health professionals “go along to get along” and maintain a status quo that includes drug company corruption, pseudo-scientific research and a “standard of care” that is routinely damaging and occasionally kills young children...[T]he mental health profession not only has financial value for drug companies but it has political value for those at the top of societal hierarchies who want to retain the status quo.
Money Power Runs America
Submitted on January 6, 2012Wall Street does it by controlling money, credit and debt, as well as manipulating markets for private enrichment. House and Senate millionaires do it their way for greater wealth, privilege, power and status.
Crackpot Anti-Islam Activists, "Serial Fabricators" and the Tale of Iran and 9/11
Submitted on January 6, 2012By Gareth Porter - Thursday 29 December 2011
Behind a mysterious December 22 Associated Press story about "finding of fact" by a District judge in Manhattan...that Iran assisted al Qaeda in the planning of the 9/11 attacks is a tapestry of recycled fabrications and distortions of fact from a bizarre cast of characters...But in the world of the right-wing Islam-hating extremists and others pushing for confrontation with Iran, reality is no obstacle to spinning tales of secret Iranian assistance to al Qaeda.
Toronto's Struggle to Secure a Safe Injection Site
Submitted on January 6, 2012By Rahul Kalvapalle - January 6, 2012
"The current federal government ranks moral position and view of the world much higher than scientific evidence...This government is prepared to see people die in order to preserve and implement its ideological viewpoint, while completely ignoring scientific evidence."
- Dr. Philip Berger, chief of the Department of Family and Community Medicine at Toronto's St. Michael's Hospital
December in Review
Submitted on January 6, 2012The reason for the treason...
The reason for the treason….
Those arrested when the Occupy Halifax camp was destroyed in November were in court on December 29, facing charges of obstructing police and breaching an undertaking.
Big Brother Billboard?
Submitted on January 5, 2012Advertisement Selling Not-For-Sale Cop Cars Appear in Two of Halifax's At-Risk Communities
“No, you won't be able to buy a Ford Interceptor Police Car. It's a police car, not available to the public.” says Maxine, at Ford Canada customer service.
I figured as much, but I had to ask. Which makes the billboards on Gottingen Street, and in Fairview, all the more puzzling.
Remarks on the Crisis 2010 — The Next Lesson: The Agenda of the Crisis-Competition of Nations
Submitted on January 5, 2012Since its beginnings in the markets for American mortgages, the great financial crisis has gone on for over three years now, and for the moment, those in charge are rather satisfied with themselves...On the other hand, that mustn’t fool anybody into thinking that the crisis is “already” over.
Killing Kids American-Style
Submitted on January 5, 2012By DAVE LINDORFF - January 05, 2012
Apparently for Americans murdering young Iraqi boys and civilians in general is no big deal...The same distorted morality has been used to justify attacks against the native Americans, the Vietnamese, El Salvadorans, and the Afghans...These people have been dehumanized, their God-given right to self-defense has been delegitimized, their resistance has been re-framed as terrorism, and US soldiers have been sent to kill them.
Cops in Texas Kill 15 Year-Old Student at School
Submitted on January 5, 2012By John Burton - WSWS
Two police officers armed with rifles shot 15-year-old Jaime Gonzalez shortly after the school day began at 8 a.m. on Wednesday at Cummings Middle School in Brownsville, Texas...Police radio transmissions confirm that the police fired shortly after arriving at the school. The fatal shot hit the boy in the back of the head. There is also reported to be an entrance wound in the side of the chest.
Rae Spoon on Gendered Pronouns
Submitted on January 5, 2012Rae Spoon will be performing in Haliax on Feburary 4. You can listen to their most recent album online here, and while you're at it, ch
The ITAC Threat Assessments of the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics
Submitted on January 4, 2012The Integrated Terrorism Assessment Centre, formerly known as the Integrated Threat Assessment Centre is an organization that provides combined threat assessments. It is primarily led by CSIS, and all the actual CSIS releases that I've seen thus far appear to come from the ITAC.
Lighter Wallet? Low Wages, Not High Taxes, To Blame
Submitted on January 4, 2012Analysts say 'bracket creep' much less of a concern than stagnant wages
Nova Scotians are going to feel their belts get a little bit tighter in the new year.
But according to some experts, stagnant wages – and not tax increases – are to blame.
Obama's America: Tyranny and Permanent War
Submitted on January 4, 2012Obama plans permanent war and homeland repression.
2012 Opens with Mounting War Threat in Persian Gulf
Submitted on January 4, 2012By Peter Symonds - 4 January 2012
The year begins with the looming threat of a new American war, this time against Iran. In the latest sharp exchange of words, the US yesterday brushed aside an Iranian warning that the American aircraft carrier, USS John C. Stennis should not return to the Persian Gulf as it constitutes a threat to Iran...The US and the European Union have deliberately raised tensions in the Gulf with further economic sanctions that could cripple the already weakened Iranian economy.
CSIS and Me: What First Nation Activities Are NOT Considered a Potential Threat to Canada?
Submitted on January 4, 2012By Pamela Palmater - rabble.ca
If Canada's national security laws permit such broad surveillance of our activities -- then my question is what First Nation activities are NOT considered a potential threat to Canada? I would like to know how much money across all federal departments are allocated to spying on First Nations people? I would also like to compare that to the costs to provide housing, water and basic necessities of life to First Nations in need. I am guessing that I would not be entitled to this information either.
No Regrets: G20 Political Prisoner Erik Lankin on the Legal System and Jail Rebellions [Audio]
Submitted on January 4, 2012Ratcheting Up Middle East Tensions
Submitted on January 4, 2012Post-9/11, Washington's aggression created a Middle East cauldron. As a result, it's been on the boil. Things ahead look worse. Obama and key NATO allies threaten the entire region. In 2012, expect continued destructive violence.
Why Do Men's Magazines Sound Like Rapists?
Submitted on January 4, 2012By Anna Clark - January 4, 2012
Descriptions of women from convicted rapists and from magazines targeting young men in Britain – “lads’ mags” – are indistinguishable, according to a new study slated for publication in the British Journal of Psychology. Researchers...name this as the magazines’ dangerous normalization of “extreme sexist views by presenting those views in a mainstream context.”
Seeking U.S.-Style Wage Cuts: Caterpillar Locks Out Workers in Ontario
Submitted on January 4, 2012By Carl Bronski - WSWS
Four hundred and twenty-five workers were locked out of the [Caterpillar] Electro-Motive Diesel plant in London, Ontario Sunday night, shortly after they voted overwhelmingly to authorize strike action unless management withdrew unprecedented concession demands...The locomotive producer...has demanded a 55 percent pay cut, the elimination of the current pension plan and a reduction in overtime rates...The wage reduction alone would reduce the locomotive workers’ pay from $35 to just $16.50 per hour.
No Regrets
Submitted on January 3, 2012G20 Political Prisoner Erik Lankin on the legal system and jail rebellions
Erik Lankin is one of the community organizers who got jail time, for allegedly masterminding the mayhem at the g20 protests in Toronto in 2010.
The Vancouver Media Co-op recently spoke with Erik from prison via telephone.
Below are a list of addresses of the G20 political prisoners currently in jail. Letters of support and reading materials are always welcome.
Crisis Conditions Grip Eurozone
Submitted on January 3, 2012From inception, the euro system was doomed to fail.
Israeli Government Mounts Major Attack on Democratic Rights
Submitted on January 3, 2012By Danny Richardson - 3 January 2012
Benyamin Netanyahu’s right-wing coalition has initiated legislation into the Knesset aimed at stifling dissent and criticism of the ruling elite, curbing freedom of speech, and limiting the powers of the judiciary...The measures are flagrant attacks on the democratic rights of the Palestinians living in the territories illegally occupied by Israel since 1967, Israel’s Palestinian citizens and Jewish Israelis alike.
Eleven No One Is Illegal Highlights from 2011
Submitted on January 3, 2012January 2nd, 2012 - No One Is Illegal-Coast Salish Territories/Vancouver
Thank you to our friends, allies, and supporters whom we stood alongside in 2011. We are inspired by the global uprisings this past year and we look forward to rising together in yet another year of struggle and liberation – till every wall and fence falls, and all prisons and sweatshops are abolished.
Care for the Elderly Faces Collapse in UK
Submitted on January 3, 2012By Dennis Moore - WSWS
Research...has revealed a complete lack of social care for the elderly in the UK, due to large-scale cuts. The number of older people requiring care but receiving nothing will reach almost 900,000 in 2012, rising to 1 million by 2015...Around half a million elderly and vulnerable people have to meet soaring costs to pay for basic care and support in their own homes. In some areas this figure is as high as £10,000 a year, with councils increasing charges for bathing, cleaning and help with shopping.
State of Human Rights in Israel
Submitted on January 3, 2012Political, religious, and other extremists threaten freedom in Israel. They dominate its Knesset and political Washington dangerously. Their out-of-control agenda puts humanity at risk. Stopping them is job one.
New Years Noise Demo at Burnaby Youth Detention Centre
Submitted on January 3, 2012January 2, 2012 - Vancouver Media Co-op
In the early hours of dusk on New Years Eve, anarchists marched on the Burnaby Youth Detention Centre to show those on the inside are not forgotten by those on the outside...As the screws looked on smirking, our chant followed: "SCREWS, PIGS, MURDERERS!"
CKUT's Off the Hour: the history of police violence at universities
Submitted on January 3, 2012Chaterine LeGrand at a round table discussion at McGill University
One of the major events that marked 2011 on mcgill campus was the november 10th province wide student strike and the shocking riot police intervention after a group of students had occupied the administration building at McGill.
8 Republican Moments That Would Make Jesus Weep
Submitted on January 3, 2012By Brad Reed - AlterNet
...[Y]ou have to wonder watching some of the Republican debates and press conferences if the GOP hopefuls have actually read the New Testament. Say what you will about Jesus, but he didn’t seem like the sort of guy who would support showering rich people with tax cuts, gutting social programs for the poor and middle-class, or launching multiple wars with Middle Eastern countries. Yet these are the sorts of things that his purported acolytes have been endorsing throughout the year, all the while claiming to be Jesus’ number-one fan in the whole world.
Rae Spoon on Gendered Pronouns and Xtra West
Submitted on January 3, 2012I remember the first time I heard Rae Spoon perform at the Pharmacie Esperanza in Montéal in 2002. I was totally blown away.
"We Want the Community To Rise Up": The Selling Out of St Pat's
Submitted on January 3, 2012Rev Rhonda Britton, Pastor of Cornwallis Street Baptist Church, Halifax and Dr. Margaret Casey, Chair of the Board of the North End Community Health Centre express their frustration and disappointment that the St. Patrick's Alexandra School building has been sold to a developer.
Toronto In Review: December
Submitted on January 3, 2012more Ford, jails, cops and surveillance; less transit, occupations and community radio
Revelations have emerged of the existence of an RCMP unit which conducted surveillance on First Nations communities.
Escalating Anti-Iranian Tensions
Submitted on January 2, 2012Whether or not anti-Iranian rhetoric, saber rattling, sanctions, other policy measures, and recent events signal war isn't known. Growing dangers though mount.
Imperialism and the "Anti-Imperialism of the Fools"
Submitted on January 2, 2012By James Petras - Dissident Voice
The official spokespeople of empire publicize real and fabricated atrocities of their imperial rivals, and highlight the plight of the colonized victims. The corporate elite and the hard-line militarists demand military action to protect property, or to seize strategic resources...Sectors of the Left join the chorus and...plead for the imperial powers to “arm the people to liberate themselves”...By lending moral support and a veneer of respectability to the imperial war...the progressives become the prototype of the “anti-imperialism of the fools”.
New Years Noise Demo at Burnaby Youth Detention Centre
Submitted on January 2, 2012In the early hours of dusk on New Years Eve, anarchists marched on the Burnaby Youth Detention Centre to show those on the inside are not forgotten by those on the outside.
Obama's New Year Resolution: More Middle East War
Submitted on January 2, 2012Obama is ravaging the world one country at a time.
A Brother With a Furious Mind: David Gilbert's "Love and Struggle"
Submitted on January 2, 2012By RON JACOBS - Counterpunch
In 1981, a group of revolutionaries robbed a Brink’s armored truck near Nyack, NY. In the ensuing confusion and attempt to flee, three people died from gunfire. A couple days later, one of the revolutionaries was killed by law enforcement...One of those members was former Weather Underground member David Gilbert. Gilbert is currently serving a sentence of 75 years to life in the New York State prison system.
Arab League Pathetic, Works as West's NGO [Video]
Submitted on January 2, 2012January 02, 2012 - Znet
Middle East expert Tariq Ali speaks on Russia Today about Syria and the Arab League.
The best of the Toronto Media Co-op in 2011
Submitted on January 1, 2012A round-up of the year's top stories covered by independent journalists for the Toronto Media Co-op
The independent journalists at the Toronto Media Co-op (TMC) have put in another year of passionate work covering important stories from our city and internationally.
Censorship and Safety: Health Canada and the Nuclear Information Blackout
Submitted on January 1, 2012Censorship and Safety: Health Canada and the Nuclear Information Blackout
By Zach Ruiter
Online Privacy and the Police
Submitted on January 1, 2012By Kimberly Croswell - December 23, 2011
It won’t be long before Canadian privacy laws regarding telecommunications come under attack again. These laws apply to technologies everyone relies on — from cell phones to the Internet. And as seen before, the federal government is likely to soon change them in a push towards facilitating on-line surveillance of individuals’ lives. If the government succeeds, it would mean on-line monitoring could be done without a warrant and other impingements on Canadians’ rights to privacy.
Appalling Bahraini Prison Conditions and Treatment
Submitted on January 1, 2012With Washington's approval, the Bahraini monarchy is brutalizing its people.
U.S. Unions Assist Corporations in Wage-Cutting Campaign
Submitted on January 1, 2012By Joseph Kishore - WSWS
The lead article in Friday’s New York Times business section...praises the role of the US trade unions, in alliance with corporate management and the Obama administration, in implementing an historically unprecedented attack on the wages of US manufacturing workers...The corporate and union executives use the same language in insisting that workers have no choice but to accept poverty-level wages.
The Threat of War Against Iran and Syria is Real
Submitted on January 1, 2012By Shamus Cooke - January 01, 2012
For those who think that the United States wouldn't possibly instigate another war in the Middle East, think again. Empowered by his "success" in the bombing of Libya and consequent assassination of Muammar Qaddafi, Obama is now seeking to use the exact same strategy against Syria, while using alarming military threats against Iran. In both cases the U.S. is creating the conditions for war in a region that is already boiling over from decades of U.S. backed dictators combined with past U.S. military aggression.
Israel v. Palestine in 2012
Submitted on December 31, 2011Israeli state terror to continue in 2012 and possibly worsen.
2011: The Year I Learned to Hate College Football
Submitted on December 31, 2011By Dave Zirin - December 31, 2011
In a decade of sports writing, I've always used a very basic framework: don't reject sports, reclaim it. In other words, no matter how greedy, hateful, or ugly sports become, you fight for it to change...That’s been my framework, until now. This weekend marks the pinnacle of the college football season. For more than 25 years...I’ve tuned in...But not this weekend, and barring a major change, I’m never watching again.
Ron Paul's Anti-Progressive Agenda
Submitted on December 31, 2011Compared to a rogue's gallery of Republican aspirants, supporters claim Ron Paul looks good by comparison. Look again and think carefully about America in his hands.
UK Occupier Kept Off Flight Home for Christmas for Carrying "Anarchist" Literature
Submitted on December 31, 2011By Joshua Holland - December 30, 2011
A protester associated with Occupy London was barred from boarding his flight home to Malaga [Spain] for Christmas because he was carrying "anarchist" literature...The demonstrator was kept off the flight because the pilot worried that he would distribute literature and "upset" other passengers.
Saudi Arabian State Terror
Submitted on December 31, 2011Saudi Arabia's absolute monarchical rule is despotic, lawless and brutal. It's a police state practicing state terrorism internally and regionally. It's also Washington's main Middle East ally after Israel.
U.S. Threatens War in the Persian Gulf
Submitted on December 31, 2011By Peter Symonds - WSWS
The Obama administration’s bellicose stance towards Iran is setting the stage for a dangerous slide towards war in the Persian Gulf. Having provoked Tehran with legislation for what amounts to an oil embargo, the US is threatening Iran with military action if it retaliates by shutting down the Strait of Hormuz.
Let Them Burn Sticks!
Submitted on December 31, 2011Wayne Crawley Retires in Style From Emera Caribbean, Sarah MacDonald Refuses CEO Housing
On December 28th, The Halifax Chronicle-Herald reported that Wayne Crawley, president and CEO of Emera Caribbean Ltd., had resigned, as of December 21st.
Conversation with/avec la famille d'Iban Apaolaza Sancho Family
Submitted on December 30, 2011U.S. Welfare "Reform" Laws Deepening and Perpetuating Poverty
Submitted on December 30, 2011By Sherwood Ross - Znet Commentary
Since 1996, politicians have bragged about the success of Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF)...“If kicking low-income children and their families off welfare is the measure, than TANF was a huge success”...TANF’s mantra that “any job is a good job” put even make-work jobs ahead of education. “Tens of thousands of low-income mothers were made to quit college to do up to 35 hours per week of unpaid ‘workfare’...sweeping streets, picking up trash in parks and cleaning public restrooms in exchange for benefits as low as $240 a month.”
Agitation From Above: Politicians and the Media Agitate the Citizens in the Right Way for the State's Crisis Policy
Submitted on December 30, 2011How the people should mentally cope with the crisis which they are made responsible for in practice.
Almost All Occupiers Now Allowed Back in HRM Parks
Submitted on December 29, 2011Another chapter is thankfully closed for many, but not all, of those members of Occupy NS arrested on November 11th. All but one of those who appeared in provincial court this morning will now be allowed back in municipal, provincial, and federal parks within HRM jurisdiction.
Gaza: Remembering Cast Lead
Submitted on December 29, 2011December 27 marks the third anniversary of Israel's lawless war on Gaza. Without provocation, three weeks of terror bombing and invasion devastated the Strip.
In a Land of Facades, Mark the First Signs of an Indian Spring
Submitted on December 29, 2011By John Pilger - Znet Commentary
India’s ascent to “new world power” is both true and...“false reality”. Despite a growth rate of 6.9 per cent and prosperity for some, more Indians than ever are living in poverty than anywhere on earth, including a third of all malnourished children. Save the Children says that every year two million infants under the age of five die.
Nova Scotians Disapprove of Convention Centre Project
Submitted on December 29, 2011Trade Centre Limited Survey Finds Nova Cold on Convention Centre
A massive government publicity campaign has not been able to convince most Nova Scotians to approve a new convention centre in Halifax, says the Coalition to Save the View.
Occupy The Family Vacation
Submitted on December 28, 2011Editor's Note: Occupiers Ruth and Herb Gamberg undertook a magazine distribution/visit the grandchildren/fact-finding mission to New York and Florida in late November-early December.
Numbers Game
Submitted on December 28, 2011The Toronto City Budget Deficit that Wasn't
Toronto - The City budget is not and has never been in a financial crisis according to figures released by the Wellesley Institute, an urban health research and policy institute in Toronto.
Obama Year Three: Continuing His Rogue Agenda
Submitted on December 28, 2011Across the board on domestic and foreign issues, Obama has governed to the right of George Bush. He's waged multiple imperial wars, plans others, looted the nation's wealth, wrecked the economy, consigned growing millions to impoverishment without jobs, and institutionalized tyranny to target dissenters challenging political corruption, corporate crooks, or abuse of power lawlessness.
Low Friends in High Places: Triad of Business, Cops and Politicians Attack Occupy
Submitted on December 28, 2011By CARL FINAMORE - December 27, 2011
A political campaign by San Francisco’s well-heeled “property owners” was launched to influence police and politicians to aggressively demobilize Occupy SF and to dismantle their encampments...Playing supporting roles was a noisy media chorus repeatedly echoing pretexts of various municipal health, park and police regulations that were allegedly being violated.
Are Psychiatrists Inventing Mental Illnesses to Feed Us More Pills?
Submitted on December 28, 2011“This has become a grassroots movement among mental health professionals, who are saying we already have a national problem with over-medication of children and the elderly, and we don’t want to exacerbate that...[I]t will create false epidemics where hundreds of thousands...who really are normal will be diagnosed with a mental disorder and given powerful psychiatric medications that have dangerous side effects...That is not tolerable.”
- David Elkins, professor emeritus at Pepperdine University and president of the Society for Humanistic Psychology
Militarized Mining in Mexico
Submitted on December 27, 2011By Dawn Paley - December 12, 2011
...Dante Valdez Jiminez was giving a teacher training class in an elementary school in Madera...But before he got through his lecture, he was interrupted by a group of 30 men...Valdez was savagely beaten in front of his students. While they beat him, his attackers yelled that he should keep his nose out of other people's business...The attack was political: Valdez is known for his work against Minefinders, a Vancouver-based company that operates an open-pit gold mine near Madera.
Netanyahu Rejects Peace
Submitted on December 27, 2011Sham Israeli peace negotiations were stillborn from inception. Writer Henry Siegman once called them "the most spectacular deception in modern diplomatic history." Netanyahu once said they're "a waste of time." Previous Israeli officials called occupation and status quo conditions "permanent."
Remarks on the Crisis 2010 — The Next Lesson: The Agenda of the Crisis-Competition of Nations
Submitted on December 27, 2011What the states are putting into practice at the moment is a model case of the competition of nations in a crisis — and to that extent, it is at the same time a lesson about the economic might of political powers and its limitations.
UK Police to Use Live Rounds, Plastic Bullets and Water Cannon in Future Riots
Submitted on December 27, 2011By Robert Stevens - 27 December 2011
Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC) has recommended that police should be able to use water cannon, rubber bullets and live firearms during any future UK riots...A central consideration of the HMIC in making its recommendations is that the necessary tools of state repression be in place for the Olympic Games, which are to be held in London in the summer of next year.
Amateur Riot
Submitted on December 27, 2011Dispatch #2 of Stop the Flows focuses on the burgeoning anti-nuke movement in Japan, following the disaster at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. Truth be told I had larger plans for this dispatch. But with time and resources lacking, I could only scratch the surface of not just the anti-nuke movement, but of the anarchist and activist scene in Japan.
Israel's Repressive Permit System
Submitted on December 27, 2011Repressive Israeli occupation is worse than South African apartheid. It's a sophisticated form of social, economic, political and racial discrimination, strangulation, and genocide.
Manning Prosecution Lays Basis for Terror Charge Against WikiLeaks Founder Assange
Submitted on December 26, 2011By Naomi Spencer - 24 December 2011
The closing arguments of [the prosecution] make clear that the United States government is seeking to use its prosecution of Manning...to lay the basis for extraditing Assange to the US and either prosecuting him as a terrorist or locking him away indefinitely in a military prison without any recourse to the courts or due process.
Spoiling for a Fight with Syria and Iran
Submitted on December 26, 2011Washington targets Syria and Iran for regime change.
Miraculous Holiday News: Refugee Released from Detention After Six Years!
Submitted on December 24, 2011December 23rd, 2011 - No One Is Illegal Vancouver Coast Salish Territories
We are thrilled to be able to share the news with you that Nader has been released from detention and his Pre-Removal Risk Assessment has been accepted!...Nader is a 46 year old Iranian refugee who had been detained and imprisoned by Canadian Border Services Agency since 2005. Nader spent over SIX years behind bars, without any substantive charges, under the jurisdiction of the Immigration Act.
Mostly Water Holiday Downtime
Submitted on December 24, 2011Mostly Water will be taking a bit of a break over the holiday season and wishes everyone a radical season's greetings!
Holiday Season Hypocrisy
Submitted on December 24, 2011Beginning the day after Thanksgiving, the holiday season involves obsessive consumerism.
War on Venezuela: Washington’s False Accusations Against the Chavez Government
Submitted on December 24, 2011By Eva Golinger - December 24, 2011
Ever since the US-supported coup attempt against President Hugo Chavez in Venezuela failed in April 2002, Washington has been pursuing a variety of strategies to remove the overwhelmingly popular South American head of state from power. Multi-million-dollar funding to anti-Chavez groups in Venezuela...has increased exponentially over the past ten years, as has direct political support through advisors, strategists and consultants - all aiming to help an unpopular and outdated opposition rise to power.
Fairytale of New York [Video]
Submitted on December 24, 2011For those who celebrate Christmas (and even for those who don't) here is the Christmas classic "Fairytale of New York" by The Pogues and the late Kirsty McColl. Enjoy!
Canadian Imperialism Preparing for War in the Middle East
Submitted on December 24, 2011By Graham Beverley - WSWS
Through a series of recent diplomatic and military measures, Canada has deepened its involvement in US preparations for war in the Middle East. These include: deploying a navy frigate off the coast of Syria, instituting new sanctions against Iran, and negotiating closer military cooperation with Israel...The eager participation of the Harper government in the intrigues of imperialist diplomacy in the Middle East...is but the latest manifestation of the Canadian bourgeoisie’s turn to militarist aggression.
Hands Off Haimen!
Submitted on December 24, 2011Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Christmas...
Submitted on December 24, 2011But Were Afraid to Ask.
This Christmas Special originally aired in 2009 on CHLY radio in Nanaimo, BC. It was a segment of a radio series called "Running Wild", which was hosted by Susie Bee and myself.
While not necessarily timely, it does answer such timeless question as :
"Who is Santa Claus, and why is my child on his leg?"
and,
Iraq: Moral Victory and Selective Body Counts
Submitted on December 23, 2011By Ramzy Baroud - Znet
...Iraq war victims would still be alive today were it not for former President George Bush and his band of neo-conservatives. Demonstrating a bizarre mix of evangelical ambition, cowboy bravado and the pathological desire to ‘keep Israel secure’, Iraq was destroyed over and over again...Numbers aside, the media spin-mongers are busy redrawing the parameters of the discussion through omission, lies and outright racism.
Deepening Global Financial Trouble
Submitted on December 23, 2011Desperate times call for desperate measures, especially for troubled Eurozone economies. Trapped under euro straight-jacket rules, everything tried so far failed, despite hooplas announcing each new plan.
Pepper Spraying Pigs Killed 62 Year-Old Man in Florida
Submitted on December 23, 2011By Kristen Gwynne - AlterNet
Nick Christie, 62, was arrested near Tampa for public intoxication about two and a half years ago. Concerned about Christie's recent erratic behavior, his wife had asked police to take her drunk husband to the hospital...rather than haul him off to jail. But Lee County Sheriff's Office police had another idea: They took Christie down to the station where they stripped him naked, covered his face with a spit mask, and paper sprayed him, until he died.
Thud of the Jackboot
Submitted on December 23, 2011By ALEXANDER COCKBURN - CounterPunch Weekend Edition
Too bad Kim Jong-il kicked the bucket last weekend...Kim would have been sustained by the news that President Obama is signing into law a bill that puts the United States not immeasurably far from the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea in contempt of constitutional protections for its citizens, or constitutional restraints upon criminal behavior sanctioned by the state...At least the DPRK doesn’t trumpet its status as the last best sanctuary of liberty. American politicians...do little else.
Windsor Cops Accused of Cover-Up in Beating of Doctor
Submitted on December 23, 2011December 23, 2011 - CBC News
Ontario's top police complaints watchdog says officers on the Windsor, Ontario police force tried to cover up a case of excessive force and false arrest...CBC News and the Windsor Star have obtained exclusive copies of reports by the Office of the Independent Police Review Director that chronicle a violent altercation — all caught on video — that has resulted in criminal charges against one officer, and numerous disciplinary charges against his colleagues, including a supervisor.
Grim Holiday Season Tidings
Submitted on December 22, 2011New global data show grim results. China's real estate was especially bleak. It reported 70% of its 70 largest cities experiencing home price deflation, up from 47% in October. Rarely ever does this bode well for economic prospects or banking.
Tarek Mehanna: Victimized by Racist Injustice
Submitted on December 22, 2011Post-9/11, Mehanna is one of hundreds of Muslim Americans victimized, vilified, and persecuted for their faith, ethnicity, prominence, activism, and at times charity.
Medical Self Defense and the Black Panther Party: An Interview with Alondra Nelson
Submitted on December 22, 2011By documenting the multifaceted health activism of the Black Panther Party (BPP) and critically assessing the BPP’s strategy and tactics in a respectful and appreciative manner, Body and Soul presents an analysis that is rare and badly needed in US colleges and universities today. In this interview, Nelson discusses how the Panthers’ legacy can both inspire and provide important strategic lessons for today’s new generation of political activists.
Canada's Secret Trial Cases Built on Torture
Submitted on December 22, 2011By Matthew Behrens - December 21, 2011
"It really makes me sick to think that when I was sitting in solitary confinement on secret allegations for almost eight years, the head of CSIS knew that my case, and the cases of the other men held on security certificate, were completely baseless, because they were likely based on information that came from torture...Once again, we see that CSIS uses secrecy to cover up what is not only politically embarrassing, but also clearly immoral and illegal."
- Former Secret Trial Detainee Hassan Almrei
Call For Pitches!
Submitted on December 22, 2011Pitch For Pay!
As we do every month, in January we will pay two contributors for news features to be published in The Dominion. We prioritize solutions-oriented news pieces with a Canadian angle, including photo essays and video pitches.
Pitches are welcome from anyone; priority for payment goes to those who have previously contributed.
Destroying the American Dream
Submitted on December 22, 2011Corporate greed and profits over people priorities launched nationwide OWS protests in hundreds of US cities for change. Mindless of growing public rage, political Washington keeps cutting vital social benefits needing increases during hard times.
Reflections on Apartheid Oil
Submitted on December 22, 2011A conversation with Macdonald Stainsby
The Apartheid Oil series, which was originally published here on the Media Co-op, has created waves of discussion throughout the activist community and beyond.
Newt Gingrich Would "Instruct" CIA to "Hunt Down" Freed Palestinian Prisoners
Submitted on December 22, 2011By Ali Abunimah - December 11, 2011
After declaring that Palestinians are an “invented people,” US presidential hopeful and former House of Representatives Speaker Newt Gingrich, has said that he would instruct the CIA to hunt down Palestinian prisoners released last October in an exchange negotiated by Israel and Hamas, presumably to kill them.
Iraq Lurches Toward Sectarian Warfare
Submitted on December 22, 2011By James Cogan - 22 December 2011
The Obama administration’s claims last week that US military occupation had bequeathed democracy to Iraq were disintegrating even before the last American troops left on Sunday...Just four days after the official withdrawal, the always tense relations between the Shiite- and Sunni-based factions within the country’s government have led to an open split along sectarian and geographical lines, raising the prospect of a civil war that could draw in neighbouring states or be exploited to justify the return of US forces.
Even School Children Are Being Pepper-Sprayed and Shocked with Tasers in the U.S.
Submitted on December 22, 2011By Rania Khalek - December 21, 2011
There is something truly disturbing about a society that seeks to control the behavior of schoolchildren through fear and violence, a tactic that harkens back to an era of paddle-bruised behinds and ruler-slapped wrists. Yet, some American school districts are pushing the boundaries of corporal punishment even further with the use of Tasers against unruly schoolchildren.
Christopher Hitchens, Angry White Guy
Submitted on December 22, 2011By Margaret Kimberley - Black Agenda Report
There was nothing witty, cute, or endearing about the late Christopher Hitchens, a racist to the core whose association with the Left served only to discredit it. “Beneath his mutterings against ‘Islamofascism’ he was nothing more than an angry white guy who wanted brown people to be conquered or dead.” A man of many prejudices but no real loyalties or principles, he flowed with the money.
Leading Canada's Public Health Care to the Free-Market Guillotine
Submitted on December 22, 2011By Stefan Christoff - rabble.ca
...[T]he Conservative proposal works to strip federal responsibility in crafting...coherent and sustainable health-care systems in Canada's provinces and territories. A clear move away from the flawed but important Canada Health Act and a political node to provincial governments already working to allocate federal health-care financing toward enhancing the corporate, for-profit sector role in delivering health-care, as already seen extensively in Alberta and Québec.
Michael Coleman: Tahrir Take Two
Submitted on December 22, 2011Australian Delegate Aboard November "Canadian Boat to Gaza".
On November 4th, the Israeli Navy attacked the Canadian Boat to Gaza, the Tahrir, and the Irish ship, the Saoirse, as they attempted to break Israel's blockade of Gaza. Aboard the Tahrir was about $50,000 worth of medical aid, in short supply in Gazan hospitals thanks to Israel's unconscionable block of medical supplies to the occupied territory.
Political Washington Abolishes Due Process Protections
Submitted on December 21, 2011America heads toward full-blown tyranny.
Israeli Delegitimization
Submitted on December 21, 2011Under the UN Charter, other international law, and principles of sovereign equality, all states are equal. None are more or less legitimate than others.
What If Occupiers Armed Themselves?
Submitted on December 21, 2011By BRIAN J. FOLEY - Counterpunch
A lesson to be drawn...is that, unequivocally, we have a right wing government that’s supported by right wing media...If you’re right wing, you can protest all you like, in any way you like – apparently, the only way for you to get arrested is if you actually gun down a Member of Congress...But if you oppose the right wing government, even nonviolently, well, you’re dangerous.
The Politics of Suicide Prevention
Submitted on December 21, 2011By David Webb - Wednesday, 21 December 2011
The dehumanizing medicalisation of suffering...diminishes us all. It also contributes to the suicide toll. The most serious consequence of the assumption that suicide is caused by Depression...is that we then stop looking for the deeper causes of why some people choose to die. Instead, superficial, ineffective and often harmful medical interventions have become the first line of "treatment". The massive anti-depressant experiment of the last 20-30 years has been a demonstrable failure...and it's long overdue that we call an end to it.
On the Death of Václav Havel
Submitted on December 21, 2011By Peter Schwarz - WSWS
Havel was the kind of democrat who above all saw Stalinism as an obstacle to their own social advance, because they were denied the social status, wealth and prominence enjoyed by sections of the upper middle class in the West. He was largely oblivious to the fate of working people...Havel [was an] ideal instrument for the restoration of capitalism in Eastern Europe in 1989.
Voices for our Coast: Holiday Edition
Submitted on December 21, 2011The Ecology Action Centre has been interviewing people from across Nova Scotia to find out what people love about our magnificent coast, what concerns them about the coast, and what people think needs to be done to better protect and manage the coast. This video features 6 more 'Voices' for our coast.
Our Friends are in Jail
Submitted on December 21, 2011By Syed Hussan - rabble.ca
Some people say I am so angry and upset because I know these people personally. Maybe...Thing is, you know these people too. If you've eaten at an activist event in Toronto in the last 18 months, you've eaten food that one of them has cooked. If you have seen any of the massive banners that OCAP and No One Is Illegal dropped between 2008 and 2010, then you have seen what these people can do...These are our friends, our comrades, our community.
Growing Hunger and Homelessness in America
Submitted on December 20, 2011Millions of Americans now endure protracted Depression conditions at a time half the population is either poor or low income. Long-term unemployment is unprecedented, and federal aid is being cut, not increased.
"Sheriff Joe Murdered My Brother": Inmate Tasered Until Brain Dead in Arpaio's Maricopa County
Submitted on December 20, 2011By Gabriela Garcia - December 20, 2011
Described as having “special needs,” [Ernest “Marty” Atencio] was arrested after he kicked a door and confronted a stranger...It is probable...that Mr. Atencio would have been found incompetent to stand trial or been given access to medical professionals...We’ll never know. Because Mr. Atencio was placed in one of Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s infamous Maricopa County jails. And several hours later, he was rushed to the hospital, brain dead from excessive force.
North Chicago Police Beating Death Sparks Public Outcry
Submitted on December 20, 2011By Shane Feratu and Scott Martin - 20 December 2011
Over the past several years, the city of North Chicago, located 35 miles north of Chicago, Illinois, has seen a disturbing spike in police brutality. Recently, Darrin “Dagwood” Hanna, 45, was beaten and Tasered at his home on November 6 of this year. He died on November 13...Family said that Hanna was beaten so badly that he was not recognizable. His mother...identified her son by his feet.
GroundWire December 18th
Submitted on December 20, 2011Durban 2011 and the Homelessness Marathon
This episode of GroundWire was produced by Leanne Arnison on traditional Mohawk territory at CKUT in Montreal, QC
Headlines:
Occupy Vancouver Port | Joel Barde
Abousfian Abdelrazik | Ray Corkum, ckut
Community Radio Report:
Homelessness Marathon | Aaron Lakoff, ckut
Music:
Cris Derkson | "Smile at me"
Features:
Devil's Deposition: Penn State Coach Delayed Reporting Child Sex Abuse to Avoid Ruining Anyone's Weekend
Submitted on December 20, 2011By Dave Zirin - December 19, 2011
...[T]he happenings at Penn State require our collective vigilance. It matters not only because of the heinous nature of [Penn State coaching legend Jerry] Sandusky’s crimes. It matters because it’s a story about how Big Football, together with the Cult of Coach, created a company town in Happy Valley as venal as Homestead, Matewan, Ludlow or any of this country’s corners colonized by robber barons a century ago. It matters because these university company towns dot the national landscape, living by their own rules.
G20 Defendant Leah Henderson Sentenced to 10 Months in Prison
Submitted on December 20, 2011"Though I stand here being judged by you, I am accountable to more, that is beyond these walls...I am accountable to the indigenous communities whose lands we are on. To the earth who we’re daily assaulting with saws, and chemicals. To the elders in my life and to the generations yet to come...The laws that govern our societies are not laws of community, or laws of consensus, they are laws of oppression...I submit to your jails because today you hold many of the weapons, and many people under your spell. A day is coming when that will not be so."
- Leah Henderson, in her statement to the court
Must We Adore Vaclav Havel?
Submitted on December 20, 2011By Michael Parenti - Znet
No figure among the capitalist restorationists in the East has won more adulation from U.S. officials, media pundits, and academics than Vaclav Havel...The many left-leaning people who also admire Havel seem to have overlooked some things about him: his reactionary religious obscurantism, his undemocratic suppression of leftist opponents, and his profound dedication to economic inequality and unrestrained free-market capitalism.
Occupying housing from the Pope Squat to Occupy Toronto
Submitted on December 20, 2011Looking at the experiences of past political squats as Occupy Toronto moves to take new ones.
It was a sweltering afternoon in late July 2002 when the armoured vehicles of the Toronto Police Emergency Task Force pulled up in front of our building. Quickly we started barricading the door with an old desk, if they were coming to kick us out we weren't going to make it easy for them. We waited tensely as the cops approached the door with submachine guns drawn. Our crime?
The Death of Kim Jong-il
Submitted on December 20, 2011By Peter Symonds - 20 December 2011
Kim Jong-il headed an oppressive Stalinist regime that represented the interests not of the North Korean working class and peasantry, but those of a privileged bureaucratic elite. However, the chief responsibility for the perennial regional tensions lies with the aggressive policies of the US, which has repeatedly sought to destabilize North Korea since the end of the Korean War in 1953.
Belliveau Dismisses Margaree Environmental Association's Appeal
Submitted on December 20, 2011Minister of Environment OKs Oil and Gas Platform in West Lake Ainslie Neighbourhood; MEA Set for Legal Battle
Minister of the Environment Sterling Belliveau has dismissed the Margaree Environmental Association's (MEA) appeal to stop a Petroworth-owned oil and gas exploration platform in West Lake Ainslie.
The appeal process is a "one-off," in that the decision is final, and there is no higher body to whom an appeal might now be directed.
Files attached to this post:
December 19th Letter from Sterling Belliveau, Nova Minister of the Environment
Direct Action after the Squamish Five
Submitted on December 19, 2011One of the first ATIP requests I filed with the RCMP was literally "Anarchism in BC from 1973 to 2011". In February 2011, I received a call from Sgt. Kent Swim saying that this was too large.
37 Hours in Lock Up: Snatched for Photographing New York City Cops
Submitted on December 19, 2011By STANLEY ROGOUSKI - Counterpunch
My arrest, or, more accurately, my assault was personal...“Metal cuffs. Put the metal cuffs on this fucking guy.” Recovering from the initial shock, I realized that I was handcuffed to a chair with a row of 17 other people, 10 men and 7 women, under arrest for “criminal trespassing” and “resisting arrest.” Almost all of us were members of the Occupy Wall Street media team or independent photojournalists known by the police to be sympathetic to the Occupy movement.
Australian Activist Warns Against Jailing Refugees: Bill C-4's Doubtful and Ineffective Future
Submitted on December 19, 2011By Stephanie Law - December 16, 2011
The federal parliament is set to pass Bill C-4...which would impose a mandatory one-year detention on any person who arrives in Canada via unconventional means...Before the bill comes into effect, concrete evidence is scarce as to whether the proposed legislation would protect or punish refugees...Australia provides a relevant example. Since 1992, the country has practiced mandatory detention of asylum seekers who arrive by unconventional means.
États, conseils de bande et développement du Plan Nord : quelle opposition ?
Submitted on December 19, 2011(tiré du cmaq à http://www.cmaq.net/fr/node/44956)
Quelle opposition au Plan Nord ?
NéEs au Québec, blancHEs et franchophones, nous sommes liéES par un cordon ombilical à l'État du Québec. Nous sommes en identific
Canada Leaves Kyoto Protocol for the Wrong Reasons
Submitted on December 19, 2011I'm not saying pollution doesn't exist and I'm not saying Peter Kent loves us. I'm saying that everybody better get acquainted with an age-old trick that should have been taught to all of us in school - problem, reaction, solution. For activists, truth seekers and awake people this formula is old news.
Imperialism and the Khmer Rouge Trials
Submitted on December 19, 2011By Mike Head - WSWS
A historic whitewash lies at the heart of the trials of former leaders of the Khmer Rouge regime currently underway in the Cambodian capital of Phnom Penh...Convened three decades after the 1975-79 Khmer Rouge reign of terror and mass murder, the UN-orchestrated proceedings are designed to bury the underlying responsibility for the Cambodian catastrophe — above all, that of United States imperialism.
La Coop média embauche! The Media Co-op is hiring!
Submitted on December 19, 2011La Coop média embauche!
Nous sommes à la recherche d'une journaliste pour se joindre à notre collectif éditorial.
Be Very Afraid: Stephen Harper is Inventing a New Canada
Submitted on December 19, 2011By Gerry Caplan - December 19, 2011
It's in the nature of true believers and ideologues to believe that any means to their sacred ends are justified. This makes them extremely dangerous people. It's also typical of such people that they're often motivated by unfathomable resentment and anger, a compulsion not just to better but to destroy their adversaries. These are good descriptions of Stephen Harper and those closest to him.
Harper Is No Santa Flashmob Hits Downtown
Submitted on December 18, 2011On a cool December day, a group of 30 people a flashmob took position near christmas trees at Pacific Centre to perform their version of the 12 Days of Xmas incorporating Jason Kenney, Canada's immigration minister.
The carol incorporated some of Harper and Kenney's worst policies, including the scrapping of immigration assistance programs in favour of temporary worker ones.
Ugly Israeli Realities Emerge
Submitted on December 18, 2011Among other concerns, repressive occupation and failure to advance peace talks equitably leave Israeli Arabs especially marginalized and at risk.
McJournalism: The Unbearable Lightness of Thomas Friedman
Submitted on December 18, 2011By Cyril Mychalejko - December 16th, 2011
"The hidden hand of the market will never work without a hidden fist. McDonald’s cannot flourish without McDonnell Douglas, the designer of the U.S. Air Force F-15, and the hidden fist that keeps the world safe for Silicon Valley’s technologies to flourish is called the U.S. Army, Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps."
- New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman
Washington's Greater Middle East Agenda: War
Submitted on December 18, 2011Targeting the Middle East's rich oil and gas resources, Washington plans waring against the region one country at a time to replace independent regimes with client ones.
Everybody's waiting for Belliveau
Submitted on December 18, 2011Minister of Environment's Decision on Lake Ainslie Oil Exploration is Past Due...
Nova Scotia Department of Environment Minister Sterling Belliveau is overdue.
Condos Over Community
Submitted on December 18, 2011Audio from St. Patrick's Alexandra Rally
Last week, HRM Council approved the sale of the former St. Patrick's-Alexandra property to a developer. A protest rally was organized on Sunday, December 18th, leading from Cornwalis Street Baptist Church to the former school.
How Can We Promote Emotional and Mental Well-Being in the Context of Activist Communities and Political Actions?
Submitted on December 18, 2011By Graeme Bacque - Toronto Media Co-op
It has generally been the state’s practice to respond to extreme mental or emotional states by simply removing the person from public view to a locked place as rapidly as possible, utilizing coercive and at times outright violent measures to accomplish this...Sad to say, the tendency even among many activists has been to rely on conventional means that generally involve leaving it to the ‘professionals’ to address such issues, despite their complete, abject failure to do so in the past with any real compassion or respect for the individual.
Battlefield America: Is Gitmo in Your Future?
Submitted on December 18, 2011By Ray McGovern - December 4, 2011
Ambiguous but alarming new wording, which is tucked into the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) and was just passed by the Senate, is reminiscent of the “extraordinary measures” introduced by the Nazis after they took power in 1933...And the relative lack of reaction so far calls to mind the oddly calm indifference with which most Germans watched the erosion of the rights that had been guaranteed by their own Constitution.
Israel to Free 550 Palestinian Prisoners
Submitted on December 18, 201118 Dec 2011 - Al Jazeera
Israel has prepared to release 550 Palestinian prisoners in the second and final phase of a swap with the Hamas organization that brought home an Israeli soldier after five years in captivity...Sunday's release will complete an Egyptian-brokered deal to exchange a total of 1,027 prisoners for Gilad Schalit, who...returned home in October when Israel freed the first batch of 477 prisoners.
Obama Approves Draconian Police State Law
Submitted on December 17, 2011Henceforth, anyone anywhere, including US citizens, may be indefinitely held without charge or trial, based solely on suspicions, spurious allegations or none at all.
Kristallnacht in Palestine
Submitted on December 17, 2011Virtually daily, Israeli security forces attack, kill, or injure Palestinian civilians with impunity. They also destroy their property by bombing, shelling, bulldozing and uprooting it.
Face-to-Face With the NYPD
Submitted on December 17, 2011By IBRAHIM DIALLO - December 16-18, 2011
New York’s Finest...have come under a lot of scrutiny since activists from the Occupy Wall Street Movement took to the streets of New York City...However, this only comes as a shock to those who never before had to deal with a police force inspired by a culture of brutality that encourages police officers to instill fear and contempt in those whom they are supposed to serve and protect...What Mayor Bloomberg and Commissioner Kelly call the "best police force in the world"...has in fact been the greatest fear factor in many communities.
After Durban: We Must Pull the Emergency Brake Before the 1 Per Cent Drive Us Off the Cliff
Submitted on December 17, 2011By Derrick O'Keefe - December 16, 2011
The result of the 2011 Durban climate talks is that the big polluters have given themselves a few more years to fiddle while the world burns. They spin this by telling us that at Durban they agreed to a "roadmap" to a future agreement...But the map of the road agreed to at Durban leads only one place for humanity -- off the cliff.
On Being Spit Upon — Literally — by Christopher Hitchens
Submitted on December 17, 2011By Dave Zirin - December 16, 2011
Christopher Hitchens was a man of prodigious gifts, but in the end, he used those gifts to promote wars that produced a killing field in the Middle East. That, tragically, is his lasting legacy to the world, and no amount of flowery obituaries can change this stubborn fact.
An Anarchist's Report Back from Occupy Vancouver and its Port Disruption
Submitted on December 17, 2011This article represents the thoughts of one anarchist and does not necesarily attempt to represent other anarchists in the city
Banker Occupation and Europain
Submitted on December 16, 2011Bankers rule the world. As a result, they have enormous influence over political, financial, and economic activity.
U.S. Backs Legalization of a Police State
Submitted on December 16, 2011By Bill Van Auken - WSWS
This piece of legislation enshrines in law the worst of the crimes carried out under the Bush administration and provides legal sanction for an American military-police state. The sweeping bipartisan support it received in both houses of Congress has provided definitive proof that there exists no constituency for the defense of democratic rights within the American political establishment and its two big business parties.
Punk is No Picnic in Indonesia
Submitted on December 16, 2011SchNEWS - 15th December 2011 | Issue 801
You might live in an area where the shop assistants...sport mohicans and traffic wardens have their nipples pierced...but there are still a few cultural backwaters where pink dreadlocks and a Crass T-Shirt are enough to provoke a backlash from the moral majority...One such place is the province of Banda Aceh – a semi-autonomous region of Indonesia.
Striking Workers Slaughtered in Kazakhstan
Submitted on December 16, 2011Friday, December 16, 2011 - Libcom
At a state run oil refinery in Kazakhstan, at least ten workers have been killed by police in violent clashes over wages, conditions, and the right to form independent political parties. Since the dispute has started the oil company has sacked over 1000 people for taking part.
Farewell to C.H.
Submitted on December 16, 2011By ALEXANDER COCKBURN - Counterpunch Weekend Edition
I can’t count the times, down the years, that after some new outrage friends would call me and ask, “What happened to Christopher Hitchens?”...I met him in New York in the early 1980s and all the long-term political and indeed personal traits were visible enough. I never thought of him as at all radical...In basic philosophical take he always seemed to me to hold as his central premise a profound belief in the therapeutic properties of capitalism and empire.
Is the Iraq War Actually Over?
Submitted on December 16, 2011By Danny Schechter - Znet
This savage war has long been deemed an embarrassment, except by the contractors who have made fortunes and the soldiers who are still being thanked for their "service" as they head home facing certain unemployment. Because of their frequent tours, many are nursing serious wounds, coping with mental problems and dealing with broken families. They are also victims of the conflict, but not to the same extent as more than a million Iraqis who seem to have been forgotten and ignored.
The Mass Incarceration Agenda in Canada: The View from Vancouver
Submitted on December 16, 2011By Aiyanas Ormond - December 15, 2011
The Conservative Omnibus Crime Bill (OCB) is the legislative component of the mass incarceration agenda in Canada. It will significantly increase the number of incarcerated people in Canada, at a huge cost...The OCB targets groups that are vulnerable to labeling and vilification: ‘drug dealers’, ‘terrorists’ and ‘human traffickers’. In reality the people who will fill the new jail spaces are the poor, Native folks already over-represented among incarcerated people, people who are addicted to drugs and criminalized immigrants and refugees.
Tea Party Founder Arrested for Taking Gun on an Airplane
Submitted on December 16, 2011By Kristen Gwynne - December 16, 2011
Mark J. Meckler, a founder of the Tea Party, was arrested Thursday morning at La Guardia Airport in New York after he tried to board a flight with a semi-automatic handgun and 19 rounds of 9-millimeter ammunition. He was charged with second degree possession of a concealed weapon.
"A Pervasive Culture of Discriminatory Bias": The Justice Model for Canada's Loony Right
Submitted on December 16, 2011By David J. Climenhaga - December 16, 2011
Never forget that the Edmonton Sun...sundry Tory politicians...and the Canadian Taxpayers Federation all think that what Canada needs is more systemic racism, abuse of power, retaliation against people who dare to exercise their right to criticize powerful officials and "unconstitutional policing"...All of them, at any rate, up to now have seldom missed an opportunity to sing the praises of Sheriff Joe Arpaio of Maricopa County [Arizona]...for his notoriously thuggish practices.
Masked in Gaza: The Untold History of Palestinian "Militancy"
Submitted on December 15, 2011By Ramzy Baroud - December 15th, 2011
The ‘militant’ has always been reported as an inexplicable irritant. At best, he served as a reminder, not of a poignant history that must be unearthed and understood, but of why Israel is, and will always remain, threatened by masked Palestinians. When a so-called ‘militant’ is brutally killed, little justification is offered. If any ‘militants’ respond to the killing, such retorts could possibly serve as a casus belli for an already planned Israeli military escalation.
Pig in Pennsylvania Tasers 14-Year-Old Girl in the Groin for Cursing and Resisting Arrest
Submitted on December 15, 2011By Rania Khalek - December 15, 2011
On September 29, Keshana Wilson, 14, was tasered in the groin while shoved against a parked car by Allentown, Pennsylvania police officer Jason Ammary, just outside her high school...Wilson’s mother has filed a lawsuit against the officer in U.S. District Court for using excessive force...As if electric shock weren’t enough to traumatize the young girl, Wilson was then arrested and detained for weeks.
Ireland: Don't Get Sick, Don't Get Old and Don't Be Young
Submitted on December 15, 2011By Lily Murphy - Znet
On December 6th, 2011, the Irish government announced a new and harsh austerity plan through a tight budget...Savage cuts were made to allowances for the disabled and lone parents while a fuel allowance for pensioners was also cut. The 2012 budget ensured one thing and one thing only: in Ireland the poor get poorer. The government declared that the aim of this budget was to rebuild the Irish economy and strengthen society, but the truth is that this vicious programme of deep cuts and high taxes will only serve to weaken society even more.
Obama Administration Backs Bill Authorizing Indefinite Military Detention of U.S. Citizens
Submitted on December 15, 2011By Joseph Kishore - 15 December 2011
The Obama administration declared Wednesday afternoon that it was abandoning its nominal threat to veto a military authorization bill that explicitly authorizes the indefinite military detention of anyone the federal government declares to be a terrorist or supporter, including US citizens...It marks a new stage in the collapse of the most basic democratic rights in the United States and the erection of the framework of a military-police state.
Startling New Evidence Shows U.S. Troops Helped Despotic Regimes Battle the Arab Spring Uprisings
Submitted on December 15, 2011By Nick Turse - AlterNet
As state security forces across the region cracked down on democratic dissent, the Pentagon also repeatedly dispatched American troops on training missions to allied militaries there. During more than 40 such operations...that sometimes lasted for weeks or months at a time, they taught Middle Eastern security forces the finer points of counter-insurgency, small unit tactics, intelligence gathering, and information operations -- skills crucial to defeating popular uprisings.
Nova Scotia NDP Premier Darrell Dexter's So-Called Trade Mission to Israel
Submitted on December 15, 2011By Miles Howe - Halifax Media Co-op
...[T]he public was treated to dribs and drabs of carefully-massaged media releases, while the whole stunt was taking place. A picture of a giddy Dexter, shovel in hand, planting a carob tree while wearing a [Jewish National Fund]-logo hat, for example, made the media rounds...The JNF presents itself as some kind of tree-planting outfit...however, they own about 13% of all of Israeli lands, and make a habit of only selling to individuals of Jewish heritage. They also operate as a strong-arm eviction force for Palestinians who just don't leave of their own accord.
Say "YES!" to a world without sexual violence.
Submitted on December 15, 2011ConsentFEST takes back Empowerment
"YES!"
Giving or not giving consent and having that decision respected is the key to ending sexual violence. We've all seen the 'No means No' campaign to end date rape, but what's the 'Yes means Yes' vision of sexual power and a world without rape?
Darrell Dexter's Hasbara!
Submitted on December 14, 2011There are a few things wrong with Darrell Dexter's recent so-called trade mission with Israel.
Legislating Tyranny in America
Submitted on December 14, 2011Obama won't prosecute CIA torturers, Wall Street crooks, other corporate criminals, lawless war profiteers, or other venal high-level civilian or government officials. Instead, expect him to sign into law indefinite military detentions of US citizens allegedly associated with terrorist groups, with or without corroborating evidence.
5 Reasons to Put a "Donation to OCAP" On Your Holidays Wish-List
Submitted on December 14, 2011Wednesday, December 14, 2011 - Ontario Coalition Against Poverty
There’s a Grinch in Town, and His Name is Rob Ford!...Rob Ford doesn’t have a red nose like Rudolph. He has the long nose of a liar! During his campaign, he promised Torontonians that there would be no service cuts during his reign as mayor, but that soon proved to be a bold faced lie. On the chopping block already are libraries, childcare, unionized jobs for city workers, parks, community startup grants and museums.
Lawless Israeli Oppression in Palestine
Submitted on December 14, 2011On December 9, al-Nabi Saleh village residents protested peacefully against settlers stealing their land. At point blank range, an Israeli soldier fired a tear-gas canister directly at Mustafa Tamimi's head, killing him.
An Open Letter from America's Port Truck Drivers on Occupy the Ports
Submitted on December 14, 2011December 12, 2011 - Occupy Wall Street
We are the front-line workers who haul container rigs full of imported and exported goods to and from the docks and warehouses every day...We are inspired that a non-violent democratic movement that insists on basic economic fairness is capturing the hearts and minds of so many working people. Thank you “99 Per centers” for hearing our call for justice. We are humbled and overwhelmed by recent attention. Normally we are invisible.
The Iraq Withdrawal and the Continuing Eruption of U.S. Militarism
Submitted on December 14, 2011By Bill Van Auken - WSWS
In packaging the Iraqi troop withdrawal...as an end to war and fulfillment of his campaign promises, Obama is merely recycling the illusions he peddled in 2008. Then he pledged that his administration would represent a clean break with the criminal policies of the Bush administration. Nearly four years later, the US military is at war in more countries than under Bush, Guantanamo and its military trials, along with torture, continue, and the police-state measures imposed in the wake of September 11, 2001 have been substantially expanded.
The Downside of Gentrification - CCAP 2011 Hotel Report
Submitted on December 14, 2011DOWNTOWN EASTSIDE - The "upgrading" of SRO hotels is putting low-income residents out in the cold. The Carnegie Community Action Project's 2011 hotel report cites gentrification and government inaction for the worsening crisis.
An Open Letter to Newt Gingrich from a Black Kid Who Grew Up in a Poor Neighborhood
Submitted on December 14, 2011By Travon Free - December 5, 2011
I recently saw you stand up in front of a group of people and allow some of the most idiotic, unfounded, racist, and ignorant words pass your lips that I’ve ever heard...To have the audacity to say that poor kids...“have no habits of working and nobody around them who works” is not only an insult to me as a black man who grew up in one of those “really poor” neighborhoods you spoke of, but it’s an insult to my mother.
Racism 101: Criminal Charges Considered After College Basketball Brawl in Cincinnati
Submitted on December 14, 2011By Dave Zirin - December 14, 2011
Let’s start with the obvious fact that hockey brawls...don’t end with participants behind bars. There is a different reaction by the press, by a school’s administration and clearly by law enforcement when it’s young black men throwing the punches. This is a racist double standard that has the potential now to ruin the lives of the young men involved...Somewhere a toothless French Canadian on skates is breathing a sigh of relief he doesn’t play hoops in the city of Cincinnati.
The Haymarket Martyrs and Occupy Wall Street
Submitted on December 14, 2011By Charles Sullivan - Dissident Voice
On November 11, 1887 four great men, all of them anarchists, were hanged from a gallows erected inside Chicago’s Cook County Jail...The Haymarket martyrs...were accused of inciting violence against the Chicago police force that, acting at the behest of prominent businessmen, frequently beat and murdered unarmed strikers with impunity. No police officer was ever tried, much less convicted, for their crimes against workers attempting to democratize the workplace. This theme should sound a familiar refrain to modern protesters.
Occupied with Conspiracies? The Occupy Movement, Populist Anti-Elitism and the Conspiracy Theorists
Submitted on December 14, 2011By Spencer Sunshine - Znet
All progressive social movements have dark sides, but some are more prone to them than others. Occupy Wall Street and its spin-offs, with their populist, anti-elitist discourse (“We Are the 99%”) and focus on finance capital, have already attracted all kinds of unsavory friends: anti-semites, David Duke and White Nationalists, Oath Keepers, Tea Partiers, and followers of David Icke, Lyndon Larouche, and the Zeitgeist movement...
Hundreds of Riot Police Threaten Occupation of Illegal Freeway in Mexico City
Submitted on December 14, 2011By Eric Doherty - December 12, 2011
Early on Sunday morning...the Mayor of Mexico City sent hundreds of riot police into a working class neighbourhood to evict occupiers and ensure that work can proceed on his pet freeway project...Residents of the neighbourhood Magdalena Contreras along with supporters from the...(Broad Front Against the Western Superhighway and in Defense of the Environment) have mounted an occupation which has been ongoing for over a year.
The Dark Ages
Submitted on December 14, 2011No Solar Power for You in Renewable Electricity Plan
In 1979, as Iranians tossed out American marionette Shah Reza Pahlavi, world oil prices spiked at an all-time high of $24 per barrel. There were shortages and line-ups at gas stations, and the precariousness of the oil-dependent system was laid bare, again, for all to see. Energy alternatives were sought out, or were at least discussed in relative earnest.
Wrecking Europe to Fix It
Submitted on December 13, 2011From inception, Eurozone monetary union was an idea doomed to fail. Nonetheless, it was engineered fraudulently to look workable.
Critical Health Issues in Gaza
Submitted on December 13, 2011Since locked down and isolated by Israel, Gaza's experienced systemic crisis. Its health system especially was gravely harmed.
European Workers Face Austerity and Dictatorship
Submitted on December 13, 2011By Julie Hyland - WSWS
Little has been said about the implications of the measures agreed at last week’s European Union (EU) summit for the working class...This virtual silence on the implications of the inter-governmental treaty now being drawn up underscores the contempt of Europe’s media and ruling elite for working people. The treaty measures presage a massive destruction of jobs, living standards and social services on which millions depend, as all of Europe is transformed into one giant austerity zone.
Dawn-to-Dusk Actions Disrupt Port of Vancouver
Submitted on December 13, 2011West Coast Occupy Solidarity on Dec 12
People gathered in Callister Park on Renfrew Street (west side, across from PNE, just south of McGill) at midday on Monday 12 December 2011. Occupy Vancouver looked to stand in solidarity with other west coast port actions and shutdowns stretching from Anchorage to San Diego.
The Media Coop is Hiring: Toronto Editor
Submitted on December 13, 2011The Media Co-op is hiring: Toronto Editor
We're looking for a local editor to co-ordinate coverage and work with contributors and Media Co-op members in Toronto.
We Hate the Niqab: Minister Kenney Protects "Canadian Values" from Muslim Immigrants
Submitted on December 13, 2011By Nick Day - rabble.ca
All I'm asking at this point is for one week to go by without another major gaffe of Conservative lunacy. Well, hopes be dashed! Minister of Citizenship and Immigration Jason Kenney announced today that "Muslim women" would henceforth be required to remove all face-covering garments before taking the citizenship oath...It doesn't take much to figure out the real rationale behind the new policy...[I]t's anti-Muslim racism.
Grogne à la 17e Conférence de L'ONU sur les changements climatiques
Submitted on December 13, 2011Lors de la dernière journée officielle de la 17e conférence des Parties de CNUCC, l'exaspération se fait sentir. Alors que les négociations piétinent, une manifestation se tient à l'intérieur des mures du Centre ce Convention International de Durban. Un remix manif et conférence de presse du réseau Climate Justice Now!
Racism, Genocide and Business as Usual: The Republicans and the Palestinians
Submitted on December 13, 2011By ROBERT FANTINA - Counterpunch
As each election approaches, few candidates miss making a trek to worship at the altar of the American Israel Political Affairs Committee (AIPAC)...The most recent pilgrim to this unholy site is Republican presidential candidate wannabe Newt Gingrich, serial adulterer, egomaniac and blow-hard extraordinaire.
The Pretext for a North American Homeland Security Perimeter
Submitted on December 13, 2011While the perimeter agreement is being sold as vital to the safety and prosperity of Canadians and Americans alike, there is little doubt that it will mean a trade-off between sovereignty and security. Any deal which gives the Department of Homeland Security more personal information poses a serious risk to privacy rights. As both countries move forward, perimeter security will be further defined and dominated by American interests.
Trial of Khmer Rouge Leaders Underway in Cambodia
Submitted on December 13, 2011By John Roberts - WSWS
The trial of three top leaders of the former Khmer Rouge regime began in the Cambodian capital of Phnom Penh last month, with the first evidence being presented last week...However, the political character of the court and trial has been clear from the outset. The [Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia] has been carefully contrived to convict the Khmer Rouge leaders while covering up the role of the major powers, which bear much of the responsibility for the tragedy that engulfed Cambodia and its people.
Treating Palestinians Lawlessly
Submitted on December 13, 2011Israel displaces Palestinians violently. Indiscriminate force is used. Home demolitions and dispossessions happen regularly. Residency rights are revoked. Closure, segregation, collective punishment, expropriation, discriminatory land distribution, attacks, arrests, detentions, assassinations, torture, and settlement expansions are policy.
De-Provincializing Police Violence: On the Recent Events at UC Davis
Submitted on December 13, 2011By Dylan Rodríguez - Znet
We should be clear: the UC Davis police used caustic “nonlethal” spray on those student protesters because they could. The institutional entitlement to use such police force...is neither incidental nor ad hoc — it is systemic, legally supported, and absolutely normal. As we approach the 20th anniversary of the acquittal of five Los Angeles Police Department officers in the street torture of Rodney King, it is urgent to once again examine how police violence shapes our everyday realities in different and contradictory ways.
More Files from the V2010ISU-JIG
Submitted on December 13, 2011Three years ago last week, the Vancouver 2010 Integrated Security Unit was lurking around my apartment building just off Commercial Drive. Before that, they've been waiting outside Anarchist Bookfair meetings, Spartacus Collective meetings, and attending the Victoria Anarchist Bookfair. How do I know this?
Conservative MP David Sweet's Attempt to Obstruct Norman Finkelstein Lecture on Campus
Submitted on December 13, 2011By Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East - December 13, 2011
Information received through a freedom of information (FOI) request has revealed that Conservative MP David Sweet intervened in February, 2011 to help obstruct a lecture by Israel-Palestine expert Dr. Norman Finkelstein...Finkelstein...was scheduled to speak at Mohawk College in Hamilton, Ontario at an event organized by Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East (CJPME.)...[W]ithin days of a meeting organized by Sweet with college officials, Mohawk College quadrupled the price of the room booking...As a result of this manoeuvre, CJPME was forced to move the event off the Mohawk College campus.
Mental Illness or Social Sickness?
Submitted on December 12, 2011By Susan Rosenthal - Solidarity Is The Best Medicine
Psychiatry presents itself as a branch of medicine that diagnoses and treats mental illness in the same way that other branches of medicine diagnose and treat physical illness. This claim does not hold up under scrutiny...Psychiatry is not a medical science; it is pseudoscience – ideology disguised as science. Psychiatry developed to meet capitalism’s need for social control and psychiatrists’ need for paying customers.
Occupy Vancouver Port Action
Submitted on December 12, 2011On December 12 Occupy Vancouver joined in solidarity with Occupy movements up and down the west coast of North America to send a strong and clear message to the global 1%: this economy belongs to ALL of us—not just those who disproportionately profit from trade.
Why the U.S. and Israel May Agree to Bombing Iran
Submitted on December 12, 2011By FRANKLIN C. SPINNEY - Counterpunch
The arguments for attacking Iran are crazy, like those for attacking Iraq in response to 9-11. But that does not mean such an attack by the American and/or the Israelis will not occur...Indeed, I think the political pressure for such an attack is increasing. My reasons for saying this are as follows:
Australian Labor Government Extends Racist and Anti-Poor "Intervention" for a Decade
Submitted on December 12, 2011By Susan Allan - 12 December 2011
Like its counterparts around the world, the Gillard government is slashing spending on education, health and welfare in response [to] the deepening global financial crisis. In the first three months since Labor’s May budget and its “tough-love” approach to welfare, more than 20,000 unemployed Aboriginal people have had their welfare payments suspended. This amounts to 20 percent of all Aboriginal people on welfare. Nationally, 10 percent of all unemployed have incurred suspensions.
Canada's First Nations: A Scandal Where the Victims Are Blamed
Submitted on December 12, 2011By James Mackay and Niigaanwiwedam James Sinclair - Sunday 11 December 2011
The [Canadian] government's response to the crisis has been a combination of arrogance and bullying...[Prime Minister] Stephen Harper...stood up in parliament to argue that widespread corruption on the part of band leaders was to blame..."It is incredible that the Harper government's decision is that instead of offering aid and assistance to Canada's First Peoples, their solution is to blame the victim, and that the community is guilty, and deserving of their fate."
Hundreds of riot police threaten occupation of illegal freeway in Mexico City
Submitted on December 12, 2011Early on Sunday morning, Marcelo Ebrard the Mayor of Mexico City sent hundreds of riot police into a working class neighbourhood to evict occupiers and ensure that work can proceed on his pet freeway project, the “Supervía Poniente” which translates approximately as ‘Western Superhighway’.
Chronicling and Heralding Employer Interests: Corporate media should have to make their interests as employers clear
Submitted on December 12, 2011Last week, the Chronicle Herald published an editorial espousing the paper’s opinion on first contract arbitration (FCA).
Canada: The Grave-Digger of Kyoto
Submitted on December 12, 2011By Martin Lukacs - December 9, 2011
Canada's global reputation is in tatters, and the reasons why are plain to see...It was the Canadian government who fired the opening salvo of the talks, when news broke that they planned to withdraw from the Kyoto Protocol...They promised to "play hardball" with impoverished, developing countries, and dismissed as a "historical guilty card" the demand for industrialized nations to take responsibility for two centuries of emissions. "It poisoned the negotiations..."
Bull Connor 2.0: The Police Response to Occupy Wall Street
Submitted on December 12, 2011By David a. Love - Znet
Why are the local authorities breaking up these peaceful protests...often through the use of violence, mass arrests, tear gas, smoke grenades, pepper spray, bean-bag rounds and brute force?...It all reminds me of Bull Connor, that infamous bull horn-toting, civil rights-era Commissioner of Public Safety in Birmingham [Alabama]. Summoned from central casting, the dyed-in-the-wool white supremacist drew attention to himself when he sprayed water hoses and sicked dogs on peaceful public demonstrators, including children.
CKUT's Off the Hour: Harper's Attempt to Quietly Sign the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement with the European Union
Submitted on December 12, 2011A report from a protest against the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) in Quebec city
T
Community Solidarity Picket Blocks Access to Port Of Vancouver
Submitted on December 12, 2011Workers respect community picket as 25 People block the Port of Vancouver in alliance with call out from Occupy Oakland and in solidarity with the Longview, Washington ILWU.
BRIEF: This morning at 7:00 am, about 25 people held a community picket at the Clark Drive entrance to the Vancouver port. Participants said that they were blocking the port in solidarity with the striking longshore workers of the Longview, Washington ILWU. Responding to a call out by Occupy Oakland, actions are planned for many West Coast cities to block the ports today.
Homeless in Halifax
Submitted on December 12, 2011A first person account of living in a shelter for homeless women
I’m fixing dinner on another damp – what a surprise – Halifax evening and enjoying the momentary peace in my large kitchen.
Running the Blockade and Harvesting the Olives: Experiences of Solidarity with Palestine
Submitted on December 12, 2011Two Vancouverites shared their experiences engaging in solidarity work with Palestine at the Unitarian Church on Saturday, December 10, marking International Human Rights Day by exposing the violation of Palestinian human rights and the potential of international struggle to support the Palestinian movement to reclaim those rights.
Muslim Charity Principles Denied Justice
Submitted on December 11, 2011Truth and justice are endangered in America. During Bush's eight years, their legitimacy and importance were targeted. Under Obama, they're on the chopping block for elimination to advance Washington's global imperium unchallenged.
Critical Health Issues in Gaza
Submitted on December 11, 2011Since locked down and isolated by Israel, Gaza's experienced systemic crisis. Its health system especially was gravely harmed.
Deliver Occupy From Its “Friends”
Submitted on December 11, 2011By KEVIN CARSON - Counterpunch Weekend Edition
...[I]t’s [Occupy Wall Street's] lack of specific demands that gives them strength. Despite op-ed jabbering to the contrary, it’s hard to miss what their main focus is: Hatred for Wall Street, for the concentration of wealth, for crony capitalism, and for the unholy alliance between Big Business and the state...That common set of values is the basic operating platform of the movement. Beyond that, the specific agendas built on that platform are beyond counting.
Greece Imposes New Austerity Budget
Submitted on December 11, 2011By Robert Stevens - 10 December 2011
Early Wednesday morning, the unelected Greek “technocratic” government of former central banker Lucas Papademos passed a brutal austerity budget. Approved by a vote of 258 to 41, it was supported by all three parties now comprising the government: the Panhellenic Socialist Movement (PASOK), New Democracy and the neo-fascist LAOS party...It includes a further 5 billion euros in spending cuts and another 3.6 billion in taxes. Pensions will be cut by 15 percent from January 1, and wages are to be slashed even further.
British Conservative's Force Unemployed to Volunteer or Lose Benefits
Submitted on December 11, 2011By Patrick Butler - The Guardian
Unemployed people will have to prove they are actively volunteering in the community in order to qualify for certain welfare benefits and social housing under "civic contract" proposals drawn up by a Conservative local authority...In measures aimed at ending what it calls the "something for nothing culture", Westminster city council also proposes that working families who "play by the rules" should get priority for social housing, while existing tenants who fall foul of the law should be evicted.
Security Certificate Injustice for Mohamed Harkat: Nine Years On
Submitted on December 11, 2011By Justice for Mohamed Harkat Committee - December 9, 2011
This weekend...marks the ninth anniversary of the detention of Mohamed Harkat under a security certificate -- a draconian detention under the so-called Immigrant and Refugee Protection Act for which no charge is laid, and the information on which the allegation is based is kept secret from the detainee and their lawyers. The five Muslim men who have been detained since 2001 have been jailed in isolation or...released under strict house arrest conditions -- the strictest in Canadian history.
U.S. Republican's Crackpot Agenda
Submitted on December 11, 2011By Tim Dickinson - December 11, 2011
The Republican Party...has backed its entire slate of candidates into far-right corners on everything from the environment and immigration to taxation and economic austerity...On the major policy issues of the day, there's barely a ray of sunshine between any of the viable Republicans...The candidates have...lined up behind a host of...extremist positions: waging war with Iran, slashing or privatizing benefits like Social Security, extending constitutional rights to zygotes, eliminating restrictions on Big Oil...and freeing up Wall Street to return to the lawlessness that buzz-sawed the global economy.
U.S. Vacates Pakistan Air Base
Submitted on December 11, 201111 December 2011 - Al Jazeera
The US has vacated the Shamsi airbase in Pakistan's Balochistan province after a 15-day ultimatum given by Islamabad, prompted by the deaths of at least 24 of its soldiers in a NATO air raid last month...Meanwhile, a senior Pakistani military official told a US television network on Sunday that his country "will shoot down any US drone that enters its territory".
Statement from the Vancouver Demonstration Against the Pacific Trails Pipeline
Submitted on December 11, 2011U.S. Covert Operations Threaten War with Iran
Submitted on December 10, 2011By Chris Marsden - WSWS
The United States is waging a sustained covert campaign of destabilization against Iran, focusing on efforts to disrupt its nuclear program...“There have been scientists turning up dead in Russia and in Iran. There have been computer viruses. There have been problems at their facility. I hope that the United States has been involved with that.”
U.S. Labor's Covert Ops in Venezuela
Submitted on December 10, 2011By ALBERTO C. RUIZ - December 9-11, 2011
It is not publicly known what the AFL-CIO’s Solidarity Center...is currently doing in Venezuela...[T]he truth is uncertain, but given the AFL-CIO’s horrendous track record in Latin America, and in Venezuela in the very recent past; given that it is intentionally concealing the fact that it is even working in Venezuela in the first place; and given that it continues to be heavily dependent upon funding from the U.S. government...it is fair to have suspicions that the AFL-CIO is up to questionable deeds in Venezuela.
Iran Away
Submitted on December 10, 2011SchNEWS - 7th December 2011 | Issue 800
...[P]owerful and idiotic members of the British political elite believe that they can go to war against Iran and win...Iran has 3 times the size and population of Iraq, and has a modern military...and plenty of experience in 'asymmetrical warfare'. Its government is broadly popular, especially when it plays to its a conservative, nationalist, religious base. That base hates Britain almost as much as it hates Israel and the USA.
Balaclava! 34 Occupy Vancouver Special Edition
Submitted on December 10, 2011The Great Climate COP-out
Submitted on December 10, 2011In the next few minutes, I'm going to be closing my computer and leaving the International Conference Centre in Durban, with no plans of ever coming back.
Dene youth delegate speaks out about Canada's position at COP17
Submitted on December 10, 2011Daniel T'seilie is in Durban with the Canadian Youth Delegation. A Dene youth from Fort Good Hope, Northwest Territories, he was slated to speak at the closing plenary of the Kyoto Protocol negotations. Because the negotations have dragged out for a day longer than expected, he won't be reading his statement.
Climate Justice Now: Time is running out
Submitted on December 10, 2011Activists from around the world deliver urgent message in dying hours of COP17
On Friday night, in what we all assumed to be the final hours of COP17, Climate Justice now held a press conference to give their assessment of where the negotations were at and what was needed in the final hours.
Resisting Gender Violence Without Cops or Prisons: An Interview with Victoria Law [Video]
Submitted on December 9, 2011In our new video-interview, author Victoria Law builds upon her earlier prison abolitionist critique by discussing practical alternatives for effectively confronting gender violence without using the prison system. She cites many success stories where women, not wanting to work with the police, instead collectively organized in an autonomous fashion.
Hunger Striking Refugee Detained for SIX Years
Submitted on December 9, 2011December 8th, 2011 - No One Is Illegal-Vancouver
Nader is a 46 year old Iranian refugee who has been detained and imprisoned by Canadian Border Services Agency since 2005. Nader has spent over six years behind bars, without any specific charges, under the jurisdiction of the Immigration Act...His length of detention is unprecedented in Canada.
OCAP and the Origins of Occupy Toronto
Submitted on December 9, 2011By Don Weitz - December 9, 2011
Since the mid-1990s, the Ontario Coalition Against Poverty (OCAP) has been a major anti-poverty organization speaking out and taking direct action for homeless and other poor people. Many of these brothers and sisters were and are psychiatric survivors, people labeled and stigmatized as "mentally ill," people who have been and still are locked up, forcibly drugged, electroshocked, traumatized and dehumanized in Ontario's psycho-prisons (all psychiatric facilities).
Police attack pipeline protesters
Submitted on December 9, 2011VANCOUVER - Police attacked environmental activists outside the offices of Apache Pipeline in downtown Vancouver today. People protesting Apache's stake in the proposed Pacific Trails pipeline at a midday rally were punched, shoved and kicked as Vancouver police locked down the office tower.
U.S. Officials Threaten Russia Amid Post-Election Protests
Submitted on December 9, 2011By Alex Lantier - 9 December 2011
Amid deep popular disaffection and opposition protests against the regime of Prime Minister Vladimir Putin following Russia’s December 4 parliamentary elections, US officials are mounting a campaign to destabilize Russia...Washington has ratcheted up military and political tensions with the Kremlin, including by backing ongoing protests politically dominated by Russia’s official right-wing “opposition” parties.
Vancouver Police Department's "Public Safety Unit" Riot Cops: Notes from the VPD's 2011 Stanley Cup Riot Review
Submitted on December 9, 2011By Zig Zag - Vancouver Media Co-op
Established in 1993 as the Crowd Control Unit (CCU), the riot squad has evolved into a professional, award-winning model of 'public order', at least according to the Vancouver Police Department's 2011 Stanley Cup Riot Review, released on Sept. 6, 2011. The report focuses largely on the riot but contains a surprisingly large amount of information on the VPD's riot squad, now called the “Public Safety Unit” (PSU).
Canada wins "Colossal Fossil" on final day of COP17
Submitted on December 9, 2011Canada has been wracking up Fossil of the Day awards in Durban, South Africa. The award, given out daily during the COP17 conference, is given to countries who have done the most to stymie negotiations in the past 24 hours. Going into COP17, Canadian Environment Minister Peter Kent had said he hoped to win fewer Fossils than his predecessors.
Canada, the Grave-digger of Kyoto
Submitted on December 9, 2011The international climate negotiations have been an abject failure, but we can find hope on the home-front
Few issues have united delegates at the UN Climate Change conference in Durban, South Africa. But if you walked the halls of the convention centre and mentioned the name of "Canada," the response was unanimous -- a collective groan and lament.
Things That Money Will Buy: Vancouver's Civic Election
Submitted on December 9, 2011By Chris Shaw - December 8, 2011
To win an election in Vancouver, it's pretty much about the money. Vision Vancouver remains in that ultimate sweet spot of having both developer and union funding. Given this, there is no reason to believe that besides massive incompetence or malfeasance over the next three years they won't win future elections as well. It must be even sweeter for them to finally be rid of that pesky [Coalition of Progressive Electors], the latter having just experienced the political equivalent of species extinction.
Champagne and Climate Change
Submitted on December 9, 2011Canadian Youth Delegation "celebrates" Canada's negotiations at COP17
The Canadian Youth Delegation held a "celebration" today in honor of the Canadian government's negotiating at these past two weeks at the UN's climate change negotiations in Durban, South Africa.
Market and non-market housing must proceed apace
Submitted on December 9, 2011"COP17 has been a failure": Leading climate justice activists speak out in Durban
Submitted on December 9, 2011On Dec. 8, with just a day and a half left to negotiations at COP17 in Durban, climate justice activists from around the world spoke out about the failings of the conference and the inability of government's to put aside national interest, and economic interests, in order to reach a strong, binding and effective agreement.
Mic Check: Protesters take up camp inside COP17 conference centre
Submitted on December 9, 2011At 15h00 local time in Durban, SA (8am EST), dozens of protesters gathered inside the International Conference Centre where the COP17 negotiations are entering their final hours.
Protesters have said they are prepared to stay all night, and that they will ensure their voices are heard.
Sorry Cops, I Really Don't Give a Damn
Submitted on December 8, 2011December 7 2011 - Libcom
The [British] Police Federation, the staff association for police officers has published a long winded report into how police officers coped during the riots earlier this year...Their biggest complaint was that they did not like the sandwiches they were given...They also complained that their batons broke too easily when used (presumably on someone’s head)...They did not mention their massive overtime payments.
Report Concludes British Riots Provoked by Police Brutality and Poverty
Submitted on December 8, 2011By Julie Hyland - WSWS
The first comprehensive investigation into the riots that swept London and other parts of England in August has confirmed that police brutality, poverty and social inequality were the primary motivating factors in their eruption...The accounts of those interviewed, who reside in some of the most socially deprived areas in England, refute the claims made by the Conservative/Liberal Democrat coalition government, with the support of the Labour Party and the media, that the upheavals were the product of the “criminality” of a “feral underclass.”
Mumia Abu-Jamal Should be Leaving Death Row Hell
Submitted on December 8, 2011By DAVE LINDORFF - Counterpunch
On the 30th anniversary of a fateful shooting incident, the decision has finally been announced: There will be no execution of African-American journalist Mumia Abu-Jamal, who in 1982 was convicted and sentenced to death in a highly-controversial and seriously corrupted trial before “hanging” Judge Albert Sabo of killing white Philadelphia police officer Daniel Faulkner on December 9, 1981.
VPD's "Public Safety Unit" Riot Cops
Submitted on December 8, 2011Notes from the VPD's 2011 Stanley Cup Riot Review
If you've attended your fair share of protests in Vancouver, then you've probably encountered the riot cops. Most of the time, they appear in baseball caps with shiny, lime green, safety vests. Sometimes they sport helmets, shields, and three-foot long wooden batons.
Northern Gateway Panel Releases Hearing Dates
Submitted on December 8, 2011The Enbridge Northern Gateway Pipeline Joint Review Panel (JRP) has released dates and locations for the first portion of their community hearings scheduled for early 2012.
Anonymous - Message to the American People Re:National Defense Authorization Act
Submitted on December 8, 2011Dear brothers and sisters. Now is the time to open your eyes!
In a stunning move that has civil libertarians stuttering with disbelief, the U.S. Senate has just passed a bill that effectively ends the Bill of Rights in America.
G20 Defendant Ryan Rainville's Statement to the Courts
Submitted on December 8, 2011December 8, 2011 - Linchpin/Common Cause
Throughout his court proceedings, Ryan proudly proclaimed his anarchist values and defended the use of property destruction during anti-capitalist protests that weekend to disrupt the economy...Ryan eventually plead guilty to three counts of Mischief Over $5000 and Breach of Peace. On October 31st, 2011 with at least a dozen supporters present, Ryan made the following statement to the court.
Open Letter to Vancouver Co-Op Radio Board and Members: Supporting BDS is Necessary
Submitted on December 8, 2011December 8, 2011 - Boycott Israeli Apartheid Campaign–Vancouver
Adopting a [Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions] resolution is a position that is consistent...to the principles of community radio...It is a stand that...privileges the voices of those who have been forced to be silent yet have continued to raise their voices clearly for over sixty years. Support for BDS rejects complicity with occupation and oppression. This rejection of complicity is particularly important in recognition of Canada’s own colonial settler nature and the ongoing complicity of the Canadian government in war and occupation, in Afghanistan, Palestine, Haiti, Libya and elsewhere.
What is Britain’s "Labour" Party For?
Submitted on December 8, 2011By Adnan Al-Daini - December 8th, 2011
People do not like this [Conservative] government, but they do not have much faith in Labour either. This explains why the Labour party is not benefiting from the dire economic situation we find ourselves in. Labour is not trusted. Their so called “light touch regulation” was an abdication of their responsibility to control the explosion of a debt-fueled economy, and the voracious greed of the “moneymen” that brought the country into this sorry state.
The Key Question in the Libyan War
Submitted on December 8, 2011By Diana Johnstone - December 08, 2011
There are many important questions raised by the Libya war, and many important and valid reasons to have opposed it and to oppose it still...[I]t has left a legacy of hatred in the targeted country whose consequences may poison the lives of the people living there for generations. That of course is of no particular interest to people in the West who pay no attention to the human damage wrought by their humanitarian killing. It is only the least visible result of those wars.
Conférence de presse de Climate Justice Now, 6 décembre 2011
Submitted on December 8, 2011La domination des 1% de l'élite économique et financière, sur les 99% de la population est contestée partout sur la planète. Ces mêmes tensions et les mêmes dynamiques ont cours ici à la COP-17, qui est aujourd'hui dominé par les intérêts économiques des entreprises.
DON'T LET AFRICA FRY: ZUMA'S GREEN GOONS ATTACK
Submitted on December 8, 2011Pablo Solon's Warning
Submitted on December 8, 2011Former Bolivian climate change negotiator and climate justice activist on COP17 negotiations
With just a day and a half left to COP17, rumours of a side deal to bypass a second phase of the Kyoto Protocol have heated up.
New Report on Israel Restricting Free Expression and Assembly
Submitted on December 7, 2011The Association for Civil Rights in Israel assesses Israel's human and civil rights record annually. Its newly released 2011 report cites increasing crackdowns on basic freedoms.
Seven Diseases Big Pharma Hopes You Get in 2012
Submitted on December 7, 2011By Martha Rosenberg - December 6, 2011
How did Pharma get a good third of the United States taking anti-depressants, statins, and Purple Pills, albeit at low prices? By selling the diseases of depression, high cholesterol, and gastro-esophageal reflux disease...Supply-driven marketing, also known as "Have Drug — Need Disease and Patients," not only turns the nation into pill-popping hypochondriacs, it distracts from Pharma's drought of real drugs for real medical problems.
Denying Palestinians Fair Access to Water
Submitted on December 7, 2011Water is essential to life. Denying it is criminal.
Mounting Evidence of U.S. Involvement in Syrian Crisis
Submitted on December 7, 2011By Chris Marsden - WSWS
The involvement of the United States and other major powers in the Syrian crisis is becoming ever more overt. As it does, the danger of all-out war and a broader regional conflict poses itself with greater immediacy...Over the weekend, the [Syrian] government held military manoeuvres involving live-fire of long-range missiles, armored units and helicopters, with the aim of testing “the capabilities and readiness of missile systems to respond to any possible aggression.”
The Cultural One-Percent
Submitted on December 7, 2011By DAVID ROVICS - Counterpunch
Amy Goodman and many others have referred to the corporate media as an “echo chamber”...Mostly privileged, overpaid white men who fall within a narrowly-constrained political spectrum pretend to have debates, while failing to even discuss...the most pressing issues of the day...There is also an echo chamber in the realm of culture...[W]hen ignored...the cultural echo chamber easily replicates itself within the internet, community media and society at large.
Harper Government Conducts Surveillance of First Nations Instead of Resolving Violations of Indigenous Peoples' Rights
Submitted on December 7, 2011By The Defenders of the Land - December 6, 2011
The Defenders of the Land...condemned reports that in 2007, the Harper government established a national and international police surveillance network to spy on Indigenous Peoples and their supporters for defending Indigenous Peoples' self-determination and land rights..."Many of the so-called 'communities of concern'...are members of our network. They are not extremists or terrorists. All of their protests or political actions were in defence of their constitutionally recognized and internationally affirmed right of self-determination and land rights as Indigenous Peoples.["]
Occupy Nova Scotia Visits Wal-Mart
Submitted on December 7, 2011Members of Occupy Nova Scotia visited a local Walmart store in Halifax yesterday, unfurled a banner and read a prepared statement on the dangers of mass consumerism.
2012 Olympics: Police-State Measures for London as Super-Wealthy Party
Submitted on December 7, 2011By Paul Stuart - 7 December 2011
...[W]ith four years of austerity and the districts surrounding the [London] Olympic site sinking into desperate hardship, and the eruption of riots this summer, the games are being approached based on the calculation that Britain is a country on the edge of mass social conflict...Preparations have assumed the character of an orgy of luxury and ostentatious displays of wealth by the financial elite, coupled with police-state measures directed against working class districts.
Canadian Youth Take a Stand in Durban
Submitted on December 7, 2011Youth delegation interupts Enviro Minister's address, calls for other countries to "turn their backs on Canada"
The high-level negotiations phase at the UN's climate change conference in Durban, South Africa, began today. Environment ministers and high ranking politicians from around the world gave their opening remarks at a plenary session, including Canada's Environment Minister Peter Kent.
Occupy Nova Scotia Visits Walmart
Submitted on December 7, 2011Members of Occupy Nova Scotia visited a local Walmart store in Halifax yesterday, unfurled a banner and read a prepared statement on the dangers of mass consumerism.
CANADIAN YOUTH EJECTED FROM COP17
Submitted on December 7, 2011TURN THEIR BACKS ON CANADIAN GOVERNMENT DURING OPENING SPEECH
Durban, South Africa – Members of the Canadian Youth Delegation were ejected from COP17 today as Canada’s Environment Minister Peter Kent delivered his opening address at the United Nations climate negotiations in Durban, South Africa.
Spreading It Thick
Submitted on December 6, 2011Based on a Literature Review-Focused Study, HRM Council Votes to Lift Moratorium on Biosolids.
On October 26th, Halifax Regional Municipality Council voted 17-5 to lift the 1 year moratorium on applying biosolids to municipal lands. The moratorium was put in place after residents on Dunbreck Road complained of a sickness-inducing smell emanating from a recent application of biosolids onto municipal lands in their neighbourhood.
All They Are Taught How to Do Is Kill
Submitted on December 6, 2011By Luke Hiken - December 6th, 2011
The obvious truth is that the only way police know how to respond to anti-authoritarian conduct by citizens is to use escalating methods of violence: baton strikes, tear gas, tasers, and then guns, frequently followed by beatings being administered outside the purview of cameras...The old adage: “if you’re a hammer, everything you see is a nail” never had a clearer application than as it applies to the conduct of America’s “finest.”
Chilean Prosecutor Charges Ex-U.S. Officer in 1973 Murder of American Journalists
Submitted on December 6, 2011By Bill Van Auken - 5 December 2011
A judge in Chile last week issued an indictment against a retired US Navy officer in connection with the arrest, torture and murder of two American journalists...in the wake of the CIA-backed military coup...that toppled the government of President Salvador Allende on September 11, 1973...Judge Jorge Zepeda has charged Capt. Ray Davis (retired) with providing the Chilean secret police with intelligence that led to the abduction and murder of [Charles] Horman and [Frank] Terrugi and with failing to take any action to stop the killings.
Social Democracy and the Economic Crisis: The Saskatchewan Case
Submitted on December 6, 2011By John W. Warnock - December 06, 2011
Given the weakness of the [New Democratic Party] in Saskatchewan today, and the very low participation of the general public in the political process, it seems to me that it is time for the people in this province who are committed to the democratic ideal to look to the formation of some sort of new, broad extra-parliamentary political organization.
Balaclava! 34
Submitted on December 6, 2011Occupy Vancouver Special edition
The 34th edition of the Balaclava! is a special on the Occupy movement in Vancouver, unceded Coast Salish Territories.
Download it here for a ton of pictures and an exlcusive summary by Zig Zag on the movement and its future.
Files attached to this post:
Une partie de l'opposition au Plan Nord sur le terrain partie 2
Submitted on December 6, 2011entrevue avec Marc Fafard (Sept-Îles sans Uranium), Arthur Picard (Innu Power) et Yvan Croteau (RQGE)
Une partie de l'opposition au Plan Nord sur le terrain partie 1
Submitted on December 6, 2011entrevue avec Marc Fafard (Sept-Îles sans Uranium), Arthur Picard (Innu Power) et Yvan Croteau (RQGE)
Ghetto Palestine: Jon Elmer brings strategic analysis of Palestinian resistance to UBC
Submitted on December 6, 2011Jon Elmer's complete talk was recorded by Melanie Spence of People's Health Radio. The full audio of the lecture is available for download at the BIAC website. (Click here to download, mp3, 98 MB)
Israeli-Style Justice
Submitted on December 5, 2011Israeli military tribunals judge Palestinians guilty by accusation.
RCMP Spied on Protesting First Nations
Submitted on December 5, 2011By Tim Groves and Martin Lukacs - Media Co-op
The federal government created a wide-ranging surveillance network in early 2007 to monitor protests by First Nations, including those that would garner national attention or target “critical infrastructure” like highways, railways and pipelines...Formed after the Conservatives came to power, the RCMP unit’s mandate was to collect and disseminate intelligence about situations involving First Nations that have “escalated to civil disobedience and unrest in the form of protest actions.”
Australian Labor Party to Enforce Dictates of Washington and Financial Markets
Submitted on December 5, 2011By Mike Head - WSWS
One of the first votes of the [Australia Labor Party] conference...endorsed the government’s insistence on producing a budget surplus next year, at the cost of social services and thousands of public sector jobs. Yesterday...the conference agreed to the sale of uranium to India, at the behest of the Obama administration, and rubber-stamped, without any discussion, the stationing of US troops and military resources in northern Australia.
Jason Kenney Hates Your Grandparents
Submitted on December 5, 2011December 5th, 2011 - No One Is Illegal-Vancouver
Minister Jason Kenney is...known as the ‘Minister of Censorship and Deportation’ because he is one of the most unjust immigration ministers. Deportations have increased, the number of skilled worker visas has decreased by about 20%, and the quota allotted for live-in caregivers to become permanent residents has been slashed by half. Instead, Kenney has increased the number of temporary workers who have no rights of residency and are constantly exploited for their labour.
RCMP spied on protesting First Nations
Submitted on December 5, 2011Intelligence unit collaborated with partners in energy and private sector
The federal government created a wide-ranging surveillance network in early 2007 to monitor protests by First Nations, including those that would garner national attention or target “critical infrastructure” like highways, railways and pipelines, according to RCMP documents obtained through access to information requests.
REDD+ alert!
Submitted on December 5, 2011Some things you should know about REDD+
Audio exerpt from "No REDD+ teach-in"
5 Dec 2011, Durban , South Africa
Speaker: Camelia (didn't catch her last name), No REDD+ Brazil
Hicks, Slicks, Trade Kicks: Toronto Mayor in Media Slapdown
Submitted on December 5, 2011By David J. Climenhaga - rabble.ca
[Toronto Mayor Rob Ford] is proof that Alberta is not the only place in Canada that elects politicians with the potential to become national embarrassments...Ford is enough of a buffoon that every time he opens his mouth he provides what is known as a "teaching moment" to the good people of [Toronto] and the rest of us about what neo-Cons really stand for and what happens when you elect them.
"Never Trust a COP"
Submitted on December 5, 201110,000 march for climate justice in Durban
More than 10,000 people answered the call to march through the streets of Durban, South Africa, last Saturday as part of a gobal day of action for climate justice and an end to climate change. The march coincided with the halfway point of negotiations at 17th meeting of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP17).
South African Movements Move (Global Day of Action)
Submitted on December 5, 2011I grabbed some footage of the incredible use of singing and dancing in various South African social movements, from the Global Day of Action on Saturday. Hopefully it can inspire us Turtle Islanders to broaden our thinking in terms of how we conduct public demonstrations.
Journée d'action globale, Durban
Submitted on December 5, 2011Shut Down the Port! Coordinated West Coast Action on Dec. 12th, 2011
Submitted on December 4, 2011Anti-Solitary Confinement Petition by the National Religious Campaign Against Torture
Submitted on December 4, 2011A new petition calling for the abolition of prolonged solitary confinement in US prisons was launched this week by the National Religious Campaign Against Torture.
CELAC: An Alternative to the Washington-Controlled OAS
Submitted on December 4, 2011CELAC comprises 33 regional countries. America and Canada are excluded. In July 2010, Venezuela's Hugo Chavez and Chile's Sebastian Pinera were chosen co-chairs to help draft organizational statutes.
Toronto G20 Main Conspiracy Group: The Charges and How They Came to Be
Submitted on December 4, 2011November 23, 2011 - Infoshop.org
It has now been almost a year a half since the mobilizations against the G20 in Toronto. Six of the seventeen people who had been accused of conspiracy for being the masterminds behind the riots...have plead guilty to a lesser charge...It's known in a general way that the people who co-ordinated logistics, transportation, and networking with other cities all got arrested. This has created fear among both the many people for whom the G20 demos were their first brush with protest culture, and even among some more experienced organizers who find themselves thinking twice about stepping forward.
U.S. Senate Backs Military Detention of American Citizens
Submitted on December 4, 2011By Bill Van Auken - WSWS
In 1918, the socialist leader Eugene V. Debs was thrown into prison...for delivering a speech opposing the First World War and calling for the working class to take power and carry out the socialist transformation of society. Even then, however, the government had to try him before a jury. The legislation passed Thursday renders such democratic niceties superfluous. Now such an offense would be punishable by disappearance into a military-run concentration camp.
Some Thoughts That OCCUPY My Mind
Submitted on December 4, 2011By William Blum - Znet
It has greatly helped Occupy's growth and survival that they have seldom mentioned foreign policy. That's much more sensitive ground than corporate abuse. Foreign policy gets into flag-waving, "our brave boys" risking their lives, American exceptionalism, nationalism, patriotism, loyalty, treason, terrorism, "anti-American", "conspiracy theorist" ... all those emotional icons that mainstream America uses to separate a Good American from one who ain't really one of us.
Q and A With Norman Finkelstein on the Israel-Palestine Conflict and Personal Responsibility [Video]
Submitted on December 4, 2011Making Every Vote Count
Submitted on December 4, 2011Fair Vote Nova Scotia, local chapter of Fair Vote Canada, seeks your support
If you’re over eighteen, chances are you cast a ballot back on May 2nd. And if you did go to the polling stations on May 2nd chances are you were not, to say the very least, a happy person on May 3rd.
EVERYONE IS DOWNSTREAM: Tar Sands in Madagascar
Submitted on December 4, 2011Jean Pierre Ratsimbazafy of Madagascar speaks in Durban, South Africa
While world delegations were gathering in Durban, South Africa for the seventeenth round of negotiations of the UNFCCC, environmentalists from around the world gathered at the Everyone is Downstream conference to challenge the impasse the talks have reached in recent years.
Alternatives Challenge COP17 Climate Talks
Submitted on December 4, 2011In the weeks leading up to the seventeenth round of negotiations of the UNFCC in Durban, South Africa (COP17), environmentalists gathered from around the world to challenge the impasse these talks have reached in the past.
America Lurches Toward Full-Blown Tyranny
Submitted on December 3, 2011Post-9/11, America's moved steadily toward eroding democracy entirely. Justification given is war on terror hokum. Incrementally, international, constitutional and statute laws have been trashed.
"No Poor Man Ever Gave Me a Job"
Submitted on December 3, 2011By Bob Simpson - Znet
“No poor man ever gave me a job”...If you go around saying stuff like this, aren’t you just trying to conceal your own insecurities? You think you need people “below” you to prop up your self confidence, don’t you? You know in your heart that you are just one lay-off, just one health problem or just one family tragedy away from poverty yourself. So overcome by fear, you adopt a worshipful attitude toward the wealthy 1% and their allies, hoping that you’ll be exempted from financial disaster.
Boycott Israel Campaign Grows Among Unions in Britain, Despite Zionist Backlash
Submitted on December 3, 2011By Asa Winstanley - The Electronic Intifada
Over the last few years, UK trade unions have expressed solidarity with Palestine more and more explicitly. Union after union has overturned a previous orthodoxy of balance between “two sides” when it comes to policy on Israel and the Palestinians. So many unions have now passed motions in support of the Palestinian boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement that even the often conservative Trades Union Congress (TUC) has been compelled to change policy.
From Occupation to "Occupy": The Israelification of American Domestic Security
Submitted on December 3, 2011By Max Blumenthal - AlterNet
The process of Israelification began in the immediate wake of 9/11, when national panic led federal and municipal law enforcement officials to beseech Israeli security honchos for advice and training. America’s Israel lobby exploited the climate of hysteria, providing thousands of top cops with all-expenses paid trips to Israel and stateside training sessions with Israeli military and intelligence officials. By now, police chiefs of major American cities who have not been on junkets to Israel are the exception.
"Enough is Enough:" Pakistan Threatens to End Support for "War on Terror"
Submitted on December 3, 2011December 1, 2011 - The Himalayan
Pakistan, enraged by a NATO cross-border attack that killed 24 soldiers, could end support for the US-led war on militancy if its sovereignty is violated again, the foreign minister said...“Enough is enough. The government will not tolerate any incident of spilling even a single drop of any civilian or soldier’s blood...”
Former Libyan "Rebel" Leader Outed as U.S. Asset
Submitted on December 3, 2011By Steve James - 3 December 2011
An article in Ireland’s Sunday World has drawn attention to relations between Mahdi al-Harati, former leader of the Tripoli Brigade of the National Transition Council which played a central role in the NATO assault on Libya, and an unnamed US intelligence agency...Al-Harati’s Tripoli Brigade was one of a number of military units put together in conjunction with the NTC to participate in the pro-imperialist overthrow of the regime of former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi...From the first, the brigade appears to have been developed...as a well-trained assault force, designed to operate alongside NATO for an attack on Tripoli.
Blame Canada
Submitted on December 3, 2011Interview with Friends of the Earth Canada member about her country's role at COP17
Canada continues to face criticism at the COP17. On Friday, it won another Fossil of the Day award for Environment Minister Peter Kent's statement that the fossils awarded to Canada this week came from the 'uninformed' and the 'ideologically driven.'
Rural Women take on COP17
Submitted on December 3, 2011Hundreds denounce exclusion from talks, false solutions at UN conference
In Durban, South Africa, yesterday, hundreds of rural women from across the continent converged at the Speakers Corner outside of the conference centre where COP17, the UN's latest round of climate change negotiations, is being held.
The women have come to Durban to participate in the South Africa Rural Women's gathering, which started December 1 and will run until December 5.
Les conservateurs démontrent leur misogynie une fois de plus
Submitted on December 3, 2011Les conservateurs, qui ont déjà tenté à quelques reprises de se débarrasser du registre des armes d’épaule, font une nouvelle tentative.
U.S./Pakistan's Toxic Alliance
Submitted on December 2, 2011Partnering with America has a price. Pakistan's paid dearly. Post-9/11, it's been harmed economically, politically, and strategically. Has its military now had enough and wants out?
Common Cause Statement of Solidarity with the G20 Defendants
Submitted on December 2, 2011Thursday, September 1, 2011 - Linchpin/Common Cause
Common Cause wishes to extend our solidarity to the six defendants of the so-called “G20 Main Conspiracy Group” who made the difficult decision to plead guilty to trumped up counseling charges in an effort to see the charges of eleven of their co-defendants dropped...The six comrades now facing imminent incarceration were targeted because of the threat they represent to the capitalist class, their liberal democratic puppets and the bloated state security apparatus that does their bidding.
A whimper, not a bang
Submitted on December 2, 2011Foodsquat highlights problems in Occupy
Submitted on December 2, 2011Outside the Gate Please.
Submitted on December 2, 2011Occupy Nova Scotia on the Outside Looking in at Provincial Legislature
Yesterday, on their street march leading from Victoria Park, some members of Occupy Nova Scotia, walking in support of Indigenous Solidarity Day, made a brief stop at the Provincial Legislature.
Outside the Gate Please.
Submitted on December 2, 2011Occupy Nova Scotia on the Outside Looking in at Provincial Legislature
Yesterday, on their street march leading from Victoria Park, some members of Occupy Nova Scotia, walking in support of Indigenous Solidarity Day, made a brief stop at the Provincial Legislature.
Sleep Eating: A New Gift from Big Pharma for the Holidays
Submitted on December 2, 2011By Martha Rosenberg - Dissident Voice
...[I]t was EWI – eating while intoxicated or “preparing and eating food (while asleep)” — not DWIs that gave Ambien its worst rap. Fit and sexy people awoke amid mountains of pizza, Krispy Kreme and Häagen-Dazs cartons consumed by their evil twin, on Ambien. Weeks of dieting and treadmill time shot to hell...The new sleeping pill also served to occlude three uncomfortable Big Pharma settlements right before Thanksgiving.
Norway’s Neo-Fascist Mass Murderer Breivik Declared Insane
Submitted on December 2, 2011By Jordan Shilton - 2 December 2011
Tuesday’s decision to declare neo-fascist Anders Behring Breivik insane was driven by the political interests of the Norwegian and European ruling elite...This decision has nothing to do with concern over Breivik’s mental state. Rather, it is motivated by the fear in ruling circles that even a limited investigation of the events leading up to July 22, which a trial would undertake, would raise uncomfortable questions for those with connections to Breivik.
Interview with Mike Larsen
Submitted on December 2, 2011Interview with Mike Larsen co-managing editor of Journal of Prisoners on Prisons
Interview with Kim Pate of the Elizabeth Fry Society (CAEFS) on the Omnibus Crime Bill
Submitted on December 2, 2011"A Deceitful Thug:" John Timoney’s Bloody Journey
Submitted on December 2, 2011By DAVID ROVICS - December 2-4, 2011
John Timoney, until recently chief of police of Miami and before that Philadelphia, formerly of New York City, where he also was a high-ranking cop, is heading to Bahrain to train the cops there...If you happen to know anybody from Bahrain who might be thinking that hiring this New Yorker could be a step in the direction of less massacre-oriented policing policies, this might be a good time to relieve them of any such illusions...John Timoney is a deceitful thug.
Interview with Justin Piche pt I
Submitted on December 2, 2011Interview with co-managing editor of Journal of Prisoners on Prisons about the Ominbus Crime Bill
Quatrième édition de 99%: Le journal d'Occupons Montréal
Submitted on December 2, 2011Dans ce numéro:
America's Illegal Chemical Weapons Stockpile
Submitted on December 1, 2011America uses its illegal chemical weapons.
Crisis Management in the U.S. - The Nation Fights Against its Economic Decline
Submitted on December 1, 2011In the United States, a political dispute is raging over the right direction for the nation. The “change”-President and his Democrats propagate the necessity of checking and, if possible, reversing the progressive decay of the country, especially the process of de-industrialization and the impoverishment of entire sections of the population. The Republican opposition rejects all of the state’s corrective interventions into the course and results of capitalist competition as eating up funds and sabotaging America’s traditional path to success.
Better Off Without The Gifts
Submitted on December 1, 2011Halifax, and Occupy NS, Celebrate Indigenous Solidarity Day
As Indigenous reserves across the country remain endemically underfunded, and the eye of the media turns fleetingly to the third world conditions in Attawapiskat, about two dozen Haligonians gathered today in Victoria Park to show solidarity for this nation's original inhabitants. Members of Occupy NS were strongly represented, and, as is their fashion, kicked off the ceremony by
New Housing Coalition Targets Condo Sites
Submitted on December 1, 2011DOWNTOWN EASTSIDE - Under the banner Occupy Condos, the DTES Not For Developers Coalition took its battle for social housing to two sites today. Housing advocates rallied outside the Pantages "Sequel 138" block on East Hastings and marched to the nearby "21 Doors" condos on Carrall Street.
International Solidarity Day with Palestine
Submitted on December 1, 2011Established by the UN in 1977, International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People is observed on or around November 29.
Israel’s Grand Hypocrisy
Submitted on December 1, 2011By JONATHAN COOK - December 01, 2011
As protests raged again across the Middle East, Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s prime minister, offered his assessment of the Arab Spring last week. It was, he said, an “Islamic, anti-western, anti-liberal, anti-Israeli, undemocratic wave”...It takes some chutzpah...for Israel’s prime minister to be lecturing the Arab world on liberalism and democracy at this moment...In recent weeks, a spate of anti-democratic measures have won support from Netanyahu’s right-wing government...
Twenty Examples of the Obama Administration Assault on Civil Liberties
Submitted on December 1, 2011By Bill Quigley - Dissident Voice
The Obama administration has affirmed, continued and expanded almost all of the draconian domestic civil liberties intrusions pioneered under the Bush administration. Here are twenty examples of serious assaults on the domestic rights to freedom of speech, freedom of assembly, freedom of association, the right to privacy, the right to a fair trial, freedom of religion, and freedom of conscience that have occurred since the Obama administration has assumed power.
Syrian Crisis Draws in Regional and Major Powers
Submitted on December 1, 2011By Jean Shaoul - WSWS
The Arab League’s announcement of economic sanctions against President Bashar al-Assad’s regime has set in motion a rapidly escalating crisis that is drawing in both the regional and major powers...For all the Arab League’s assertions that the sanctions are designed to avert foreign intervention, the opposite is the case. Plans for a military intervention are well advanced, with Turkey and France playing leading roles.
Tears and Loathing in Durban
Submitted on December 1, 2011Is a gonzo revival the only rational journalistic response to failed climate talks?
When I first stepped through the drab halls of the International Convention Centre, decorated in a business-casual African motif, a misanthropic ether binge or acid-fueled target practice with high-calibre rifles seemed to be just the thing. A gonzo revival, it could be argued, is the only appropriate response to the latest round of climate talks taking place here in Durban, South Africa.
Protest Opposes World Bank Administration of Green Climate Fund
Submitted on December 1, 2011Canadian Youth Delegation Press Conference: BituMenswear
Submitted on December 1, 2011As the COP17 got under way in Durban, South Africa this week, outraged environmentalists from the Canadian Youth Delegation kicked off a series of actions in style, as they launched BituMenswear, the ultimate suit of choice for the oil-friendly Canadian government during the following weeks of international climate negotiations.
Student Surprises New York Top Cop With Police Brutality Slideshow, Calls on Him to Resign
Submitted on December 1, 2011By Lauren Kelley - AlterNet
A college student had an uncomfortable surprise for [New York police Department] commissioner Ray Kelly during his Tuesday night visit to Columbia University. Kelly was visiting a class taught by former New York Mayor David Dinkins when a student-protester...whipped out a projector loaded with a film showing images of police brutality against protesters, which he projected on the wall behind Kelly.
Once Again, War is Prime Time and Journalism’s Role is Taboo
Submitted on December 1, 2011By John Pilger - December 01, 2011
The media war against Iran began in 1979 when the west’s placeman Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi, a tyrant, was overthrown in a popular Islamic revolution. The “loss” of Iran, which under the shah was regarded as the “fourth pillar” of western control of the Middle East, has never been forgiven in Washington and London...Disinformation and the barbarity of colonial warfare have historically had much in common.
One Per Cent for the Poor from the One Per Cent in Ontario
Submitted on December 1, 2011By John Clarke and Liisa Schofield - rabble.ca
On Dec. 1 [Ontario] social assistance rates will increase by an insulting one per cent. This increase is well below the rate of inflation which is estimated at three per cent this year. With inflation factored in, what [Ontario Premier Dalton] McGuinty calls a one per cent raise, is, in reality a two per cent cut. This cut is a loss of real income for the poor, which, when coupled with the major cut to the Special Diet Program, means a dramatic deepening of poverty in 2012 and beyond.
November in Review
Submitted on December 1, 2011Took a lickin’ but we kept on tickin’
All eyes and ears were turned onto Occupy Nova Scotia this month. This initiative combined inventive political ideas, a resolute democratic spirit and high drama. ‘What means will officialdom eventually employ to decamp this in-your-face progressive site?’, seemed to be the question hanging in the air.
A Night At Occupy Vancouver
Submitted on November 30, 2011Filmed in Vancouver British Columbia around the height of the Occupy Movement. This documentary style short film was inspired by a sign posted on a tent at the Occupy Vancouver site which read ‘Ask Me Why I’m Here’. Thus the premise of this short film; asking Occupiers and citizens of Vancouver who were on site in support of the movement why they were there.
Illegitimate Egyptian Elections
Submitted on November 30, 2011Last February, Mubarak's 30-year dictatorship ended. Another one replaced him. Egypt's military holds absolute power.
Dr. Taser / Mr. Clorox: The Strange Career of Dr. Richard Carmona
Submitted on November 30, 2011By DARWIN BOND-GRAHAM - November 28, 2011
...“Dr.” Richard H. Carmona...has been a board member of the Oakland-based Clorox since 2007...Guiding aspects of Clorox’s corporate decision making is only one of Carmona’s jobs, however...Dr. Carmona joined the board of Taser International in the same year he joined Clorox. Not coincidentally, that was just after he left office as the 17th Surgeon General of the United States under the administration of George W. Bush.
Cyclones of Struggle: From Occupation to Intifada- the return of insurrection in Egypt & here
Submitted on November 30, 2011The on-going insurrectionary situation in Egypt and the open potentialities for the Occupations
Article avalible with pictures at:
http://momentofinsurrection.wordpress.com/cyclones-of-struggle-from-occupation-to-intifada/
Former "Sheriff of the Year" Arrested for Exchanging Sex for Meth
Submitted on November 30, 2011By Kristen Gwynne - AlterNet
Meet Patrick J. Sullivan, former drug war wager and [Republican] sheriff of Arapahoe County, Colorado for nearly 20 years before he retired in 2002. This guy was such a great police officer that in 2001, the National Sheriff's Association named him Sheriff of he Year...Lo and behold, Sullivan is just another crooked cop. Tuesday, he found himself on the receiving end of arrest, as cops took him down for suspicion of methamphetamine trafficking when they caught him offering a man meth in exchange for sex.
False Intelligence, True Tragedies: Night Raids in Afghanistan
Submitted on November 30, 2011Wednesday, November 30, 2011 - Common Dreams
...Rafiuddin, 36, still tries not to cry when he recounts the details surrounding the night raid at his home in Koshkaky...Just past midnight, coalition forces launched a surprise attack on the walls and roof of Rafiuddin’s house...[H]is brother...was instantly killed by a bullet to the head...[H]is 17-year old son ran to rescue his uncle and was hit by a rocket-propelled grenade. He died a slow death in the garden where the family was held throughout the night...Ten civilians were killed that night.
OCAP Statement in Solidarity with the G20 Conspiracy Defendants
Submitted on November 30, 2011November 28th, 2011 - Ontario Coalition Against Poverty
The Ontario Coalition Against Poverty wishes to reaffirm our support for all G20 defendants...As the G20 leaders must have known, when they met in Toronto two summers ago to plan out an inhuman agenda of Global Austerity, the measures they intended to impose on the mass of humanity would require a considerable escalation in state repression. It is therefore, far from surprising, that those who challenged the gathering itself would be among the first to feel the impact of the escalation of this already brutally repressive machine.
G20 Defendants Peter Hopperton and Adam Lewis' Statements to the Court
Submitted on November 30, 2011On November 28, Peter Hopperton was sentenced to 5.5 months in prison, Adam Lewis was sentenced to 3.5 months in prison and Eric Lankin was sentenced to three months in prison for their involvement in Anti-G20 protests in June 2010 in Toronto. Below are Peter and Adam's statements to the court.
First Nations Stand Their Ground Against Prosperity Mine at BC Supreme Court
Submitted on November 30, 2011The U.S. Military Industrial Complex Comes to Full Fruition
Submitted on November 30, 2011By Kathleen Wallace Peine - Dissident Voice
This week Congress is expected to vote on a bill...[called] the Enemy Belligerent, Interrogation, Detention and Prosecution Act...In case you haven’t heard the details...the bill essentially labels every spot on this earth as a battlefield, including the United States...From this notion springs the advancement of military tribunals dealing with all citizens of the globe...without the bother of transparency. Detention and disappearance could be the order of the day.
Is a Nuclear War with China Possible?
Submitted on November 30, 2011By Lawrence S. Wittner - November 29, 2011
The gathering tension between the United States and China is clear enough. Disturbed by China's growing economic and military strength, the U.S. government recently challenged China's claims in the South China Sea, increased the U.S. military presence in Australia, and deepened U.S. military ties with other nations in the Pacific region. According to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, the United States was "asserting our own position as a Pacific power."
"A Change in Approach to Public Order Policing:" London Cops Consider Buying Water Cannons
Submitted on November 30, 2011By Sandra Laville - The Guardian
The Metropolitan [London] police is considering the purchase of three water cannon at a cost of nearly £4m to cover London and the south east as part of a new approach to public order policing in the aftermath of the summer riots...In what appears to be a toughening up of its tactics in the aftermath of the August riots, the force is examining whether further legislation is required to give officers more powers when dealing with large scale disorder as well.
Canada suits up, picks up awards at day one of COP17
Submitted on November 30, 2011On Monday, Nov. 28, the 17th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework on Climate Change, commonly referred to as COP17, kicked off in Durban, South Africa. Thousands of delegates from around the world had arrived in the city to discuss how we should address the threat of climate change and global warming.
Palestinian Unity: A Threat, Says Israel
Submitted on November 30, 2011Last April in Cairo, Hamas and Fatah leaders proclaimed unity. Palestinians hoped it signaled rapprochement between the two sides.
Canada and Mexico to Join U.S. in NAFTA of the Pacific
Submitted on November 30, 2011By Dana Gabriel
At the recent APEC meetings, Canada and Mexico announced their interest in joining the U.S., along with other countries already engaged in negotiations to establish what has been referred to as the NAFTA of the Pacific. Another NAFTA-style agreement poses a serious threat to economic sovereignty. There are fears that U.S. could use the TPP to open up the Canadian telecom market and its banking sector to more foreign financial services.
NBA Players Get Played
Submitted on November 29, 2011By Dave Zirin - November 28, 2011
Disregard the avalanche of tweets from your favorite star player about how excited they are to get back to work. The players were dunked on and [NBA Commissioner David] Stern is wagging his tongue while hanging from the rim...[W]e have what at the bottom line is a massive transfer of wealth from players to owners: $3 billion over the next decade, to be more precise. Three billion dollars extracted from those we pay to see, to those who have spent the last twenty years treating fans and taxpayers like the cowering abused partners we are.
The Demonization of Iran
Submitted on November 29, 2011By PATRICK COCKBURN - November 28, 2011
Iran has long been denounced in Washington as the source of much of the evil in the Middle East. Saudi Arabia and its Sunni allies see the hand of Tehran behind protests in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia’s oil-rich Eastern Province. As the last US forces leave Iraq by the end of the year, there are dire warnings of Iraq becoming an Iranian pawn.
Target Syria
Submitted on November 29, 2011Washington's Greater Middle East project involves waring against the region one country at a time to replace independent regimes with client ones.
Assault Charges Dropped Against Member of No One Is Illegal-Montreal
Submitted on November 29, 2011November 29, 2011 - No One Is Illegal-Montreal
Yesterday morning, at Montreal’s Municipal Court, criminal charges of assault and intimidation were withdrawn against Montreal anarchist & community organizer Jaggi Singh...Montreal police laid the criminal charges several months after a disruption of a speech by Immigration Minister Jason Kenney at McGill University in October 2009. Protesters and students supporting migrant justice groups No One Is Illegal and Solidarity Across Borders surrounded Jason Kenney during the protest.
No One Is Illegal Vancouver/Coast Salish Territories Support for G20 Defendants
Submitted on November 29, 2011November 29th, 2011 - No One Is Illegal-Vancouver/Coast Salish Territories
Following the recent plea deal by the G20 “Main Conspiracy Group”, No One Is Illegal-Vancouver/Coast Salish Territories would like to affirm our support and solidarity with all G20 defendants...Mandy Hiscocks, Alex Hundert, Leah Henderson, Peter Hopperton, Erik Lankin, and Adam Lewis are all facing jail time – from several months to several years...We are painfully aware of the courageous sacrifice you are making for all of us...We are proud and humbled to be alongside you.
Paris Block Condos Confiscated
Submitted on November 29, 2011DOWNTOWN EASTSIDE - About two dozen housing activists moved into the Paris Block luxury condos this afternoon - way ahead of schedule. The activists occupied the condo construction site for three hours to protest the steamroller gentrification of the Downtown Eastside and the lack of affordable housing.
The Euro Crisis and Its Rescuers: "We Do It For Us"
Submitted on November 29, 2011In Germany, rulers and ruled agree: “We” have built a solid economy, lowered wages for over a decade in exemplary fashion, and strengthened the competitiveness of “our” economy. We have solid growth and our debts are under control. Now “we” must rescue the lazy Greeks, Portuguese, Irish, and who knows who else with new loans, because they have been “living beyond their means.” Even if the self-righteous German view has recently triumphed in Brussels and gains approval from the rest of Europe – not a single word in it is true.
U.S. Indefinite Domestic Military Detentions
Submitted on November 29, 2011Congress is now considering legislative language to mandate indefinite military detentions of US citizens suspected of present or past associations with alleged terrorist groups, with or without evidence to prove it.
Download the G20 Papers
Submitted on November 29, 2011The 'G20 Papers' is a trove of documents on security operations at the Toronto G20, and Huntsville G8. These files were obtained through freedom-of-information legislation, predominantly from the RCMP but also from other police and security organizations.
It Takes a Village to Raise a Vegetable
Submitted on November 29, 2011Food consciousness coalesces at ACORN conference
“Farmers need a shitload of support,” says Amy Lounder, an organic farmer who runs Avon River CSA (community-shared, or community-supported, agriculture) in Centre Burlington, NS. “And not just financial support but support in a lot of different ways, like support in information, of learning how to problem solve.”
Harjap Grewal at "Who are the 99%: The Occupy Together Movement"
Submitted on November 29, 2011PETER HOPPERTON'S STATEMENT TO THE COURT IN G20 CASE
Submitted on November 29, 2011U.S. Higher Education in Crisis
Submitted on November 28, 2011Education reform under Bush and Obama want public education made another business profit center. Doing so places bottom line priorities above teaching. At issue also is creating a two-tiered system for haves and have-nots, defined by race, ethnicity, social status and family income.
Plan Colombia Not Over
Submitted on November 28, 2011By David T. Rowlands - Sunday, November 27, 2011
Plan Colombia was sold to the taxpaying public as a necessary component of the “war on drugs”. In fact, it was a vehicle for furthering the traditional designs of US imperialism, of which there is a long and bitter history in Colombia...[T]he targets of Washington’s Plan Colombia offensive are not only armed [Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia] or National Liberation Army (ELN) guerillas but also any peasant and indigenous groups standing in the way of capitalist globalisation.
Joint Military Exercise Highlights Growing Pakistan-China Relations
Submitted on November 28, 2011By Vilani Peiris - 28 November 2011
Joint Sino-Pakistani military exercises...began on November 16. Both countries claimed the exercise aimed to curb terrorism. However, Pakistan is also keen to enhance its ties to China, as its relations with Washington deteriorate...The lengthy, two-week...exercise is the fourth in a series...between the two countries...The latest exercise was unusually large...A senior Pakistani security official said, “This is the first time that brigade-level war games are being staged by Pakistan and China...”
NATO vs Pakistan: What's Next?
Submitted on November 28, 2011By TARIQ ALI - Counterpunch
The NATO assault on a Pakistani checkpoint close to the Afghan border which killed 24 soldiers on Saturday must have been deliberate. NATO commanders have long been supplied with maps marking these checkpoints by the Pakistani military...Previous such attacks were pronounced ‘accidental’ and apologies were given and accepted. This time it seems more serious. It has come too soon after other ‘breaches of sovereignty’...but Pakistani sovereignty is a fiction. The military high command and the country’s political leaders willingly surrendered their sovereignty many decades ago.
Kansas Teenager Refuses to Apologize for "Insulting" Theo-Con Governor
Submitted on November 28, 2011By Lauren Kelley - AlterNet
"I suppose it's not that big a surprise that someone like [Kansas Governor Sam] Brownback, who has a strong belief that women should not be in control of their own lady parts, would also find the notion that teenage girls have the legal right to make fun of him deeply threatening...The freak-out over a teenage girl having a less-than-flattering opinion of him was also predictable if you look at Brownback's long history with the C Street Family, a religious-political group that specifically promotes patriarchy and disdains the idea of women holding political power."
"Wake Up, Pond Scum, America is at War:" Frank Miller and the Rise of Cryptofascist Hollywood
Submitted on November 28, 2011By Rick Moody - Thursday 24 November 2011
A sturdy corollary emerges in the wake of the graphic artist Frank Miller's recent diatribe against the Occupy Wall Street movement ("A pack of louts, thieves, and rapists … Wake up, pond scum, America is at war against a ruthless enemy")...That corollary, of which we should be reminded from time to time, is this: popular entertainment from Hollywood is...propaganda. And Miller has his part in that, thanks to films such as 300 and Sin City.
Fish Lake Fightback in Court
Submitted on November 28, 2011VANCOUVER - The Tsilhqot’in Nation is again facing off in BC Supreme Court against Taseko Mines over its proposed open-pit gold and copper mine. The community wants to stop Taseko's injunction application and permits issued by the BC Government for exploration near Fish Lake (Teztan Biny).
Austerity and Fascism in Greece: The Real 1 Per Cent Doctrine
Submitted on November 28, 2011By Mark Ames - November 28, 2011
With all the propaganda we’ve been fed about Greece’s new “austerity” government being staffed by non-ideological “technocrats,” it may come as a surprise that fascists are now considered “technocrats” to the mainstream media and Western banking interests. Then again, history shows that fascists have always been favored by the 1-per centers to deliver the austerity medicine...[This] might explain why there’s been almost nothing about how Greece’s new EU-imposed austerity government includes neo-Nazis from the LAOS Party...
"FoodSquat" Occupies City-Owned Building, evicted shortly thereafter
Submitted on November 28, 2011Occupy Toronto Moves Out of the Park and Into a Basement
“Grange Park by the kiddie slides at noon” the text message said. Arriving in drizzling rain for the clandestine meeting, I saw Antonin Smith, a controversial figure from the Occupy Toronto food team. The Foodsquat was going public on Monday, and the Toronto Media Co-op was getting a tour.
Files attached to this post:
Israel: Profile of a Rogue State
Submitted on November 28, 2011Rogue states spurn international law, treaties, conventions, and in Israel's case its own laws and Supreme Court decisions.
Occupy Toronto Foodies Take Back Building
Submitted on November 28, 2011Interview with Antonin Smith from the Occupy Toronto food team. Shot in the new squatted location of Occupy Toronto in downtown Toronto.
African Activists Blast Unconventional Extraction
Submitted on November 28, 2011Tar sands highlighted in lead up to UN climate summit in South Africa
DURBAN, SOUTH AFRICA—In Durban this week, you're blinded by green. From billboards to uniforms, it's impossible to miss that this South African city is hosting the 17th Conference of the Parties (COP17) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.
Canada's Negotiators Get New Uniforms
Submitted on November 28, 2011Haligonians at COP 17 Model Bitumens Wear
Mathew Chisholm and Robin Tress model Canada’s New Negotiating Uniforms at a press conference on the first day of COP 17 in Durban, South Africa.
Roots to Grow - The Need for radical Spaces in Movement-Building Part 2/2
Submitted on November 28, 2011Recorded Nov 24th, 2011.
What is the role of physical spaces--like Rhizome--in supporting social movements? What can we learn from other radical spaces, both those that came before us and others that are currently in existence?
Roots to Grow - The Need for radical Spaces in Movement-Building Part 1/2
Submitted on November 28, 2011Recorded Nov 24th, 2011.
What is the role of physical spaces--like Rhizome--in supporting social movements? What can we learn from other radical spaces, both those that came before us and others that are currently in existence?
Give Away
Submitted on November 27, 2011Occupy Nova Scotia's "Shopping Cart Brigade" Keeps Hali's Homeless Warm
While stateside shoppers were pepper spraying each other, and getting shot at and body slammed by security, this weekend members of Occupy Nova Scotia engaged in the far more peaceful pursuit of giving stuff away. For some it was Black Friday. For others it was Buy Nothing Day.
Europe's Austerity to Bring Cold, Bleak Winter
Submitted on November 27, 2011Sunday, November 27, 2011 - Common Dreams
While workers protest against austerity measures on the streets, cash-strapped Europeans are feeling the pain at home, struggling to pay for heating as winter approaches, reviving soup kitchens for the poorest and getting rid of costly pets...The debt crisis now ravaging the euro zone has seen governments cut spending, including to welfare programs, and raise taxes. Unemployment is rising and many Europeans are planning for a bleaker future.
"Nutty, Vicious and Wrong:" Newt's "Wacko" Idea to Replace Unionized Janitors With Students
Submitted on November 27, 2011By Dick Meister - Znet
"Nuts, vicious and wrong." That's what the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees thinks of Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich's wacko idea of putting kids to work to clean our schools in place of unionized adult janitors...Gingrich's 18th century plan calls for schools to "get rid of unionized school janitors and hire poor school kids to clean the schools in low-income neighborhoods."
Occupy Protestors Evicted From Tents, First Nations People Forced to Live in Tents [Video]
Submitted on November 27, 2011By Annie Urban - November 23, 2011
The contrast is staggering. In the large cities of southern Ontario, Occupy Ottawa and Occupy Toronto protesters were evicted...from the tent cities they set up last month to protest economic disparities. One thousand kilometers further north...the residents of the Attawapiskat First Nation have been living in tents and sheds without water or electricity for years and no one is doing anything about it.
Pitch for pay!
Submitted on November 27, 2011Write for the Media Co-op!
As we do every month, in December we will pay two contributors for news features to be published in The Dominion. We prioritize solutions-oriented news pieces with a Canadian angle, including photo essays and video pitches.
Separation over gentrification
Submitted on November 27, 2011A condominium project pits neighbour against neighbour
The conversion of a former Halifax church site into a condominium building is dividing a North End community.
Is Britain Plotting With Israel to Attack Iran?
Submitted on November 26, 2011By JONATHAN COOK - November 25-27, 2011
Last February Britain’s then defense minister Liam Fox attended a dinner in Tel Aviv with a group described as senior Israelis. Alongside him sat Adam Werritty, a lobbyist whose “improper relations” with the minister would lead eight months later to Fox’s hurried resignation...The episode of the Tel Aviv dinner...raises “vital concerns about a secret agenda for war at the core of government, comparable to [former British prime minister Tony] Blair’s determination to drive through a war on Iraq.”
Big Charity: Who Gets Turned Away at United Way?
Submitted on November 26, 2011By Aalya Ahmad - November 26, 2011
...[I]s Big Charity getting too big for the communities it's supposed to be serving?...In Ottawa, a coalition has been forming around this question...The coalition is worried that the equal partnerships of yesteryear are being replaced in favour of a top-down corporate structure with a small Executive making decisions that are increasingly unresponsive to the small groups and organizations that have agreed to rely on United Way Ottawa for their funding.
38 Days Later: Occupy Ottawa, the Good, the Bad and the Ugly (Parts 1 and 2)
Submitted on November 26, 2011I often watch, and participate in this small portion of the broader movement, while feeling like I’m watching a movement that has the potential to be beautiful and powerful and to radicalize large numbers of people, turn into a clusterfuck train wreck.
A Message from the So-Called "G20 Main Conspiracy Group"
Submitted on November 26, 2011Text below and video originally published on Conspire to Resist.
As people across Turtle Island look towards the global wave of protests against the austerity agenda, the memory of the 2010 G20 protests in Toronto looms large as both inspiration and caution.
Pakistan Blocks NATO Supply Route to Afghanistan After Raid Kills 28
Submitted on November 26, 2011Saturday, November 26, 2011 - Common Dreams
NATO helicopters attacked a military checkpoint in northwest Pakistan on Saturday, killing up to 28 troops and prompting Pakistan to shut vital supply routes for NATO troops fighting in Afghanistan..."The latest attack by NATO forces on our post will have serious repercussions as they without any reasons attacked on our post and killed soldiers asleep..."
NYPD Riot Squad Guidelines: "A Strong Military Appearance"
Submitted on November 26, 2011By Julianne Escobedo Shepherd - AlterNet
"The impression we make on disorderly and violent groups has a profound effect on the outcome of the incident...Always have disorder control equipment, including helmet and baton, ready for immediate use. A strong military appearance, with sharp and precise movements, is a force multiplier and a psychological advantage to us."
Robert "Bob" Louis Rosen (June 26th, 1947 - November 22nd, 2011)
Submitted on November 26, 2011It is with deep sorrow that we share the loss of our husband, father, brother, and friend, Bob Rosen. Born in Los Angeles, California, Bob came to Canada as a war resister in 1968. For over 30 years, he was a community school coordinator and teacher in Surrey. He served as president of the Surrey Teachers’ Association and was active provincially in the BC Teachers Federation. Most recently, Bob sat on the board of Co-Development Canada and the steering committee of Independent Jewish Voices.
British Unions Strike Against Pension "Reforms" (Two Articles)
Submitted on November 26, 2011Members of more than 20 trade unions have now voted in favour of striking on November 30, the Trades Union Congress (TUC) Day of Action over the government’s attack on public sector pensions...Some two million people are expected to be involved in the one-day stoppage, including...Health workers, teachers, civil servants, council workers and many other employees in local authorities throughout England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
Justice Minister Vic Toews' Wilful Blindness to the Ongoing "Crisis" in Canada's Justice System
Submitted on November 26, 2011By Pamela Palmater - rabble.ca
No one in their right mind could stand before all Canadians and claim that our justice system is not broken and does not discriminate against anyone. Only a right-wing extremist, drunk with "white privilege" and power would even have the nerve to say something like that and ignore all the evidence to the contrary - including evidence that comes from the very justice system he defends.
Joint Press Statement by the Police and Two Library Defenders
Submitted on November 26, 2011Joint statement made to the public by Officer Gary Meissner, and occupiers Ian Smart, and Jordon Walsh (one of the people who chained himself to the library) on the day of the Occupy Toronto Eviction on November 23, 2011 about the process of negotiating and the peaceful resolution of the library yurt.
Montreal Deputy Police Chief speaks to the media about Occupy Mtl Eviction
Submitted on November 25, 2011Corruption-Plagued New York Police Tramples on Democratic Rights
Submitted on November 25, 2011By Ali Ismail - 25 November 2011
The draconian response of the New York Police Department to the ongoing anti-Wall Street protests in the city is part of a stepped-up attack on democratic rights...New York police have also targeted Muslim-Americans and Muslim immigrants in the past decade, with revelations last August by the Associated Press and others of an unprecedented and illegal spying operation against Muslims in close collaboration with the Central Intelligence Agency.
Another New York Bomb Plot: Real or Fake?
Submitted on November 25, 2011Latest NY bomb plot smells as bad as previous ones proved spurious.
The "Decent Left" and the Libya Intervention
Submitted on November 25, 2011By DAVID N. GIBBS - November 25-27, 2011
...[S]upporters of the [Libya] intervention seek to shift discussion away from the embarrassing facts and lash out against those who disagree with their views. Michael Bérubé has created a stir recently with his article “Libya and the Left”...This article defends the intervention, while it attacks writers who oppose it, with a special emphasis on attacking left-wing opponents of the intervention.
Occupy Homes: Will Taking the Fight to Foreclosed Houses Unleash More Police Violence?
Submitted on November 25, 2011By Tana Ganeva - AlterNet
After a coordinated national crackdown that dispersed occupations from the public parks and plazas of Portland, Denver, Oakland and New York, occupiers have floated the idea to camp on private space, confronting banks and mortgage servicers at ground zero..."It's an incredibly important tactic that connects Wall Street to Main Street, engaging communities that may not yet have found Occupy movements to be relevant to them...It's connecting communities of color, and those most affected [by] economic power -- helping forge a resistance to the banks exploiting them."
Fahrenheit 451 at Zuccotti Park
Submitted on November 25, 2011By PETER LINEBAUGH - Counterpunch Weekend Edition
The cowardly, nocturnal destruction of more than 5,000 volumes of “the People’s Library” last week, a repository of knowledge gathered by the Occupy Wall Street assembly at Zuccotti Park requires the most vigorous push-back. Mayor Bloomberg of New York ordered the destruction which was certainly coordinated with Wall Street and the White House.
Police Evict Occupy Toronto Protesters
Submitted on November 25, 2011By Carl Bronski - WSWS
Much has been made by the mainstream Canadian press of the relatively peaceful police operations, pointing for instance to the absence of riot police in the front lines of the St. James Park eviction — but ignoring the presence of mounted and other tactical units sequestered in the side streets of Toronto’s downtown core that were to be deployed in the event the eviction was contested.
When is a Clear Cut not a Clear Cut?
Submitted on November 25, 2011Definition of Clearcuts Not Clear Cut: Government abuses public trust
Perhaps the only thing worse than doing nothing is doing something that's worse than doing nothing, and then touting it as having done something good. Such is the case with the Nova Scotia government's application of the Natural Resources Strategy as it relates to the future of our forests.
CJSF Radio Special on Occupy Vancouver part2/2
Submitted on November 25, 2011CJSF Radio Special on Occupy Vancouver part1/2
Submitted on November 25, 2011Heading for War on Syria?
Submitted on November 24, 2011Libya's model is being replicated in Syria. So far, it's short of war. For how long is uncertain. Expect it if current tactics fail.
Thanksgiving Hypocrisy
Submitted on November 24, 2011Quebec's Plan Nord a development on par with Alberta tar sands
Submitted on November 24, 2011Interview with Roger Rashi (Québec solidaire) on Redeye (Co-op Radio in so-called ''Vancouver'')
Large mining corporations from Canada, Europe and China are eager to become involved in a plan to extract resources from an area of Quebec that encompasses three-quarters of the province's landmass. Many First Nations are opposed to Le Plan Nord, as are environmental groups in Quebec.
Canadian Wages Plummet
Submitted on November 24, 2011By The Canadian Press - November 24, 2011
Canadian workers are failing to keep pace with the rising cost of living as average real wages continue to shrink dramatically, according to new data from Statistics Canada...Real after-inflation wages have been dropping since the summer, and in September the average paychecks of Canadian workers declined outright — by 0.3 per cent to $872.75.
Occupy the Media
Submitted on November 24, 2011By Laurie Penny - November 24, 2011
As law enforcement cracked down on Occupy encampments around the country, a pattern began to emerge whereby officers moved in the small hours of the morning, held members of the press in police "pens" away from the evictions, and arrested them if they stepped out of line...Across the west, journalists have learned deference to police forces just as they have learned deference to the political establishment -- but over the past year, the objectives of the police and the press have been, for once, decidedly at odds.
Pictou Mill Belches Black Smoke
Submitted on November 24, 2011Yesterday afternoon, Matt Gunning, a life-long citizen of the town of Pictou, was surprised to see thick plumes of abnormally dark grey smoke belching out of the mill. This was no normal day in Pictou.
Greek Police Make First Raid on University Since Fall of Military Junta
Submitted on November 24, 2011By Robert Stevens - 24 November 2011
Within days of being installed at the behest of the international financial elite, the new Greek coalition government led by top banker and prime minister Lucas Papademos has signaled its intention to impose cuts by authoritarian means...On November 17 the government utilized the abolition in August of the Academic Asylum law by the previous...government to authorize the police entry into a public university...for the first time since 1982.
Chief Cops Want Anti-Mask Law
Submitted on November 24, 2011CBC News - November 24, 2011
Some Canadian police chiefs are voicing support for a private member's bill that would criminalize wearing a mask or covering the face during a riot or unlawful assembly...Vancouver Police Department Chief Jim Chu has expressed support for the legislation, and [Bill Supporter Conservative MP Blake] Richards has said police in Calgary and Toronto also back it.
CKUT's Off the Hour: In Conversation with Anthropologist David Graeber about his book Debt: The First 5000 Years
Submitted on November 24, 2011Neal Rockwell sat down with David Graeber while he was in Montreal last week. They talked about a number of topics from his book Debt: The First 5000 Years. These ranged from precapitalist economies, to markets which during certain periods have prevented rather than fostered capitalism and to how our contemporary concept of freedom originated from Roman property law and slave ownership.
Occupy Vancouver had to move again
Submitted on November 24, 2011On Nov 22nd, 2011 the Occupy Vancouver had to move again, as the supreme court wasn't the greatest camp ground. The GA was this night held at 7pm in Grandview Park. Temporary homes were found for all that didn't have a house to go back to.
Israeli Settlers Attack Palestinians with Impunity
Submitted on November 23, 2011Palestinians are doubly cursed. Israel's military attacks them regularly. Lawless Israeli settlers also assault Palestinians with impunity. Investigations when held are whitewashed. Rarely is anyone prosecuted even for offenses too serious to ignore.
The Nature of the Beast Revealed
Submitted on November 23, 2011By RON JACOBS - November 23, 2011
Historically, police violence is a fact of life in every society. In a society based on a capitalist economy, the police serve those that have the most money and property. When the authorities and their policies are under attack, the police will always be called in to protect the former...There is a reason the most thuggish of the uniforms are often the ones called to disperse angry crowds...Meanwhile, hardly any one but their friends and family weep for those the police brutalize off campus.
Two Scandals, One Connection: The FBI Link Between Penn State and UC Davis
Submitted on November 23, 2011By Dave Zirin - November 23, 2011
Two shocking scandals. Two esteemed universities. Two disgraced university leaders. One stunning connection. Over the last month, we’ve seen Penn State University President Graham Spanier dismissed from his duties and we’ve seen UC Davis Chancellor Linda Katehi pushed to the brink of resignation...But their connection didn’t begin there. In 2010, Spanier chose Katehi to join an elite team of twenty college presidents on what’s called the National Security Higher Education Advisory Board, which “promotes discussion and outreach between research universities and the FBI.”
The Financial Crisis Continues as a Crisis of State Debt: The Imperialist Nations Fight for their Credit by Impoverishing their People
Submitted on November 23, 2011In the fifth year of the global financial crisis, the average person is still looking for a job or worried about losing one, and fears for what little savings he or she might have. The big investors flee into real assets, gold or Swiss francs, and increasingly shun government bonds – only a few years ago the safe harbor in the financial crisis, now rated as increasingly risky and falling in value.
Victoria Cop Convicted of Assaulting Prisoner After Assault Ruled "Reasonable" by Chief
Submitted on November 23, 2011CBC News - November 23, 2011
A provincial court judge ruled George Chong used excessive force in applying a choke-hold that rendered Frank Blair unconscious in January 2010...B.C. Deputy Police Complaint Commissioner Rollie Woods says his office is reviewing Chong's case and how it’s been handled by Victoria Police Chief Jamie Graham...After an internal disciplinary hearing, Graham ruled that Chong's choke-hold was reasonable and justified.
New York Cops Beat and Arrest Students Protesting Tuition Increase
Submitted on November 23, 2011By Sandy English - 23 November 2011
Police struck male and female students in the face, head and stomach, according to witnesses. Others were pushed to the ground and manhandled by as many as five officers at a time. Video footage of the incident shows police dragging students on the ground...“They started pushing us and beating us. We didn’t want this to be violent. We just wanted our voices to be heard...The officers were attacking us, unprovoked.”
After the Plea Deal [Video]
Submitted on November 23, 2011By Syed Hussan - November 23, 2011
I will not grieve Mandy, Leah, Alex, Peter, Erik and Adam going to jail for years...I will hope. Hope that every time they make one political prisoner, a dozen others take to the streets...Hope that each indignity pushed down upon upon us is met by a thousand fists pushing back up.
Police War on the Poor: The Return of the Albuquerque Death Squads
Submitted on November 23, 2011By DAVID CORREIA - November 23, 2011
...[Albuquerque Police Department] officers are violent by nature, self-selected to the force because of the opportunity to kill with impunity. The numbers seem to suggest as much. Police killings in Albuquerque are three-times what is found in comparably sized cities and is similar to New York, which has 14-times the population and a police force 34-times larger than APD...And there’s ample evidence of a frightening blood lust among some APD officers...[such as one who] posted his job description on Facebook as “human waste disposal.”
Occupy Ottawa 2am eviction - audio report w/ interviews
Submitted on November 23, 20118 arrested, 1 hospitalized, park barricaded
On early Wednesday morning, police moved in to evict Occupy Ottawa from Confederation Park. The move came 26 hours after the eviction deadline from the National Capital Commission.
Eviction in Progress at Occupy Toronto
Submitted on November 23, 2011Story was updated live from 6:30 AM to 7:30 PM Wednesday November 27th
*This page was updated live from 6:30 AM to 7:30 PM November 23rd. Please check back to Toronto Media Co-op as stories, videos and photo essays of todays events will be posted shortly.
An eviction is in progress at Occupy Toronto. Reporters from Toronto Media Co-op are on the scene. Follow @meganysta on twitter for confirmed updates from Media Co-op reporters.
“Banned on the Hill”
Submitted on November 22, 2011Ottawa art exhibit highlights government interference in environmental education
Toronto artist Franke James is displaying environmental artwork on Bank Street in protest of the Canadian government’s interference in her 20-city European art show and its dec
Emera Under Investigation in Grand Bahama
Submitted on November 22, 2011Operation Grand Bahamas Presents Formal Complaint Against Power Supplier
As reported, in early November a group known as Operation Justice Bahamas visited Halifax on a fact-finding mission.
Obama and Labor: The Self-Defeating Alliance
Submitted on November 22, 2011By ROB URIE - November 21, 2011
...[W]hile in office [Obama] has dutifully represented the interests of the small group of extremely rich plutocrats who have worked...to destroy the American working class through the implementation of neo-liberal economic policies. Obama knows what soothing words to say to allay the fears of workers while he implements the same policies that have driven down wages, caused mass unemployment and that have placed all of the economic “gains” of these policies in the hands of a few well-connected mostly white men.
"We Emerge United and in Solidarity:" Statement by the G20 "Conspiracy" Arrestees
Submitted on November 22, 2011November 22, 2011 - rabble.ca
Although these conspiracy charges have been a big part of our daily reality for the past year and a half, we have been slow in speaking out collectively...We are writing now because we have negotiated a plea deal to resolve our charges and to bring this spectacle to an end...Of the 17 of us, six will be pleading and the 11 others will have their charges withdrawn...We are expecting sentences to range between six and 24 months, and all will get some credit for time already served in jail and on house arrest.
Social Democrats Pave Way for Return of Right-Wing Popular Party in Spain
Submitted on November 22, 2011By Paul Mitchell - WSWS
In the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis, [Spain's social democrats] imposed savage spending cuts, including a 15-billion-euro austerity package, wage cuts of 15 percent and attacks on pensions. This is under conditions of widespread hardship and unemployment levels close to five million...This even enabled the [Popular Party] to pose as an opponent of cuts, if only by remaining silent about its own intentions.
Caught on Camera: 10 Shockingly Violent Police Assaults on Occupy Protesters [Video]
Submitted on November 22, 2011By Joshua Holland - November 18, 2011
Occupations across the country have born the brunt of some violent police tactics, and in a world where everyone has a camera-phone, a lot of their brutish behavior has been caught in photographs and on video...Below are some of the most stunning incidents of police officers going wild on Occupy protesters around the [United States].
Obama’s Pepper Spraying Cops
Submitted on November 22, 2011By DAVE LINDORFF - Counterpunch
Old women, pregnant mothers-to-be, and even children have been hit with pepper spray, teargassed and terrorized by police goons in New York, Seattle, Portland, San Francisco, Sacramento, Dallas, Chicago, Boston and elsewhere in what is almost certainly a coordinated attack on the Occupy Movement being run out of Washington.
Egyptian Military Power Grab
Submitted on November 21, 2011Since military junta power replaced Mubarak, thousands were arrested, imprisoned, tortured, disappeared, and/or denied due process and judicial fairness in military tribunal trials.
Israel Shuts Down "All for Peace" Radio Station
Submitted on November 21, 2011Sunday, November 20, 2011 - Common Dreams
Israel has ordered the shutdown of a dovish Israeli-Palestinian radio station, officials and the station's operators said on Sunday...Conservative lawmaker Danny Danon boasted that he had helped close the "All for Peace" radio station..."A radical leftist station that becomes an instrument of incitement must not be allowed to broadcast to the broader public..."
Occupy Vancouver Packs up - and Moves!
Submitted on November 21, 2011VANCOUVER - Faced with an injunction from the City, the citizens of Occupy Vancouver moved out today - and set up a new camp one block away.
Western Powers Back Syrian Insurgents as Arab League Deadline Expires
Submitted on November 21, 2011By Jean Shaoul - WSWS
The Arab League’s three-day ultimatum to the Baathist regime of President Bashar al-Assad to implement a one-sided peace plan expired, with Assad refusing to back down...Even before the ultimatum expired, the imperialist powers and their allies in the Middle East were meeting to prepare a military intervention to unseat Assad, via the establishment of “safe havens” for civilians inside Syria.
St. James Cathedral Evicts Occupy Toronto from Church Land
Submitted on November 21, 2011Occupy Toronto protesters received eviction orders on November 21, 2011 after a court ruling upheld the decision of the City of Toronto to move them from St. James Park. Part of this land is owned by St James Cathedral, documents obtained from Toronto Media Co-op reveal, making the Church complicit in this eviction.
By Carmelle Wolfson
All Work and No Pay: The Rise of Workfare in Britain
Submitted on November 21, 2011By Anne-Marie O’Reilly and Warren Clark - November 21, 2011
In some areas, there is less than one job advertised for every 20 people seeking work, yet unemployment is being identified as a personal failing. Workfare is a manifestation of the government’s attempt to discipline and control the lives of the unemployed. A central theme emanating from both the Labour and Tory conferences was the condemnation of people getting ‘something for nothing.’
Indigenous Resistance to Mining and Rights of people with Intellectual disabilities challenged in Supreme Court
Submitted on November 21, 2011
This Episode of GroundWire was produced by Aaron Levy at CIVL, in Abbotsford, BC.
Headlines:
Abbotsford Vote/Referendum | Aaron Levy, CIVL
Guelph Police Officer Arrested for Drug Theft | Mary Carl Guiao, CFRU
Community Radio Report:
Occupy: New Location
Submitted on November 21, 2011On the afternoon of November 21, Occupy Vancouver took to the streets, moving a large part of the site just two blocks away to the UBC Robson-courthouse area.
Even though the move itself was peaceful, a fireman at the original Occupy site provoked a fight with one of the demonstrators, who was arrested by VPD.
Occupy Toronto: Eviction part two
Submitted on November 21, 2011The sound of drums compete with church bells, as Occupy Toronto heads for an expected eviction showdown at midnight. The month-old encampment lost a key legal battle today, as an Ontario Superior Court judge issued a 54 page decision dismissing an injunction filed last week by several occupiers. Already, there are (unconfirmed) reports of police in garages and vehicles around St.
Occupy Vancouver Packs Up...And Moves One Block Away
Submitted on November 21, 2011Vancouver - On a soggy Monday, hundreds showed up at the Vancouver Art Gallery to show solidarity and support in response to the Supreme Court of BC granting the City of Vancouver permission to forcefully remove any Occupy Vancouver standing structures at the Art Gallery.
The Bloodshed in Honduras: Obama’s Disgrace
Submitted on November 21, 2011By MARK WEISBROT - November 21, 2011
When I voted for Barack Obama in 2008 I never thought that his legacy in Central America would be the return of death squad government, of the kind that Ronald Reagan so vigorously supported in the 1980s. But that seems to be the case for Honduras.
True Prosperity is Healthy Waters
Submitted on November 21, 2011Tsilhqot’in and Supporters Defend Land Rights Against Taseko Mines
Approximately forty people gathered outside the BC Law Courts at 9am in the slush and chill of downtown Vancouver on Friday November 18 to support the Tsilhqot’in (Chilcotin) people in defense of their land rights. The Vancouver-based mining corporation Taseko Mines Ltd.
Health and Safety at Occupy Montreal
Submitted on November 21, 2011Ray Corkum explores how Occupy Montreal manages health and safety at La Place des Peuples
Ray Corkum went to the Occupy Montreal camp for a few days to see how the organization was managing health and secutiry issues.
Urgent update from Occupy Toronto- Defend the occupation today!
Submitted on November 21, 2011Church-Owned Property not Included in Court Order to Shut down Occupy
Submitted on November 21, 2011Court Order to Evict Occupy Only Applies to City Lands
A court ruling (Batty vs. the City of Toronto) came down today allowing the eviction of Occupy Toronto. However, the Media Co-op has learned that it only applies to the City-owned portion of the St. james park. The land owned by St.
Call for Investigative Pitches!
Submitted on November 21, 2011Dig deeper, get paid better!
The Media Co-op is seeking pitches for investigative features. Writers will be paid $400 for 2200 words.
The pitch should demonstrate how the article will uncover something new, or dig deeper on an ongoing story—all with a Canadian angle. The journalist will work with Dominion editors over the course of a month or more to produce the article.
Occupy: un mouvement révolutionnaire?
Submitted on November 21, 2011
Texte publié par anonyme sur le CMAQ
Le mouvement Occupy fait beaucoup de bruit. Même les médias dominants en parlent souvent positivement.
Crackdown on Occupy Canada
Submitted on November 21, 2011By Carl Bronski - WSWS
About 2,000 supporters of the Occupy Wall Street movement in Toronto marched from the protesters’ encampment in St. James Park to City Hall on Saturday. The demonstration was in response to efforts currently underway by the administration of right-wing mayor Rob Ford to evict several hundred people occupying the park...The “Evict Rob Ford” march comes on the heels of a concerted effort by municipal officials to shut down Occupy encampments across Canada.
U.S. Labor Must Choose Between Occupy and the Democrats
Submitted on November 21, 2011By Shamus Cooke - Znet Commentary
Though the mass actions of the Occupy Movement have done more to change the political climate than the millions who voted for Obama, most of Labor's entrenched leadership remain attached to the Democrats in an illusory attempt to have a national voice...In practice this means that labor ignores the pro-corporate policies of Democratic politicians while unions water down their demands to make them compatible with the positions of Democrats. Occupy won't stand for this, or even listen to it.
Occupy Toronto Opens Up Vein of Native Backlash
Submitted on November 21, 2011By Krystalline Kraus - November 20, 2011
So the Canadian myth that we're all loving and polite people gets exposed again if you're non-white, non-Western or Indigenous...I would say I have not been taken aback from the spate of anti-Indigenous commentary coming from the detractors of Occupy Toronto. It ain't pretty but it's real.
Oil Rich Gulf Co-operation Council Grows
Submitted on November 20, 2011Extreme extraction could prove to be the meaning of GCC membership for Morocco and Jordan
AMMAN, Jordan--The Arab Spring sent shock waves through the regimes of the Middle East and North Africa, and in the face of demands for popular accountability alongside bread and butter issues, states throughout the region have devised strategies to try and avert popular upheaval.
OCAP Statement of Support with Occupy Toronto
Submitted on November 20, 2011November 17, 2011 - Ontario Coalition Against Poverty
We must expect that sooner rather than later, cops will be mobilized to do on a larger scale what they do regularly to poor and homeless people trying to survive. They will be ready to use their power to clear out St James Park as their counterparts have done in a range of cities. Occupy Toronto has symbolized opposition to greed and injustice and has prompted people to take a stand.
Eurozone Doomsayer Got it Right
Submitted on November 20, 2011Eurozone economies are cratering. Every fix tried so far failed. Combining 17 dissimilar countries under one monetary/fiscal system assured disaster waiting to happen.
New Directory Lists Profiteers in Kingston-Area Prison Construction
Submitted on November 20, 2011This week, Kingston-based prison abolition group End the Prison Industrial Complex (EPIC) launched a new webpage listing private companies from across Ontario and Quebec that are profiting from Kingston-area prison construction.
OWS: Too Big to Fail
Submitted on November 20, 2011An idea whose time has come resonates globally. November 17 marked two months since beginning in New York. Earlier Middle East and European protests inspired it. Now it's spreading everywhere across North and South America, Europe, Asia, Africa, and Oceania.
If Chemtrails and HAARP Didn’t Disturb You Enough, Wait Until You Hear About Morgellons
Submitted on November 20, 2011Eventually, what I uncovered baffled and disgusted me. I would like to stress that I do not seek to alarm anyone with the information presented here. Morgellons is downright creepy and exhausting to even think about. I’m really not surprised why I just found out about Morgellons now, despite having researched and filmed chemtrails for over a year.
Fear of Conflict Enabled Occupy Vancouver to be Established
Submitted on November 20, 2011By Zig Zag - Vancouver Media Co-op
With Occupy Vancouver facing a court injunction ordering their removal by Monday, November 21, at 2PM, it is worth reflecting on why OV was able to be established in the first place...“The City of Vancouver opted not to stop Occupy Vancouver from setting up a tent city downtown during the initial protest march on Oct. 15 because it feared that police action could spark a riot, Mayor Gregor Robertson said...[”]
Fear of Conflict Enabled Occupy Vancouver to be Established
Submitted on November 20, 2011City's initial plan to prevent tent camp altered after fear of street chaos
With Occupy Vancouver facing a court injunction ordering their removal by Monday, November 21, at 2PM, it is worth reflecting on why OV was able to be established in the first place.
Turning Tears to Laughter
Submitted on November 20, 201140 Gather for Beach Walk in the Shadows of Boat Harbour.
PICTOU LANDING, NOVA SCOTIA - With nary a hint of effluent in the air, about 40 residents of Pictou Landing, and friends of residents of Pictou Landing, went on a beach walk along the shores of Lighthouse Beach, known in the Mig'maw language as 'Sinabook'. The beach walk was put on by the resurgent Pictou County Watershed Coalition.
Documents cast doubt on church position regarding Occupy Toronto eviction
Submitted on November 20, 2011A New Israel in the Making
Submitted on November 20, 2011By Gideon Levy - Haaretz
The way of life in the new Israel...won't remind us in the least of the country we're used to. Even this article won't be publishable. Only proper opinions will be put into print...Laws and regulations...will bar publication of anything that could, in the eyes of the authorities, harm the state. A new law will bar defamation of the state, and the newspaper you will hold in your hands will be different. It will only report good news.
The Cop Group Coordinating the Occupy Crackdowns
Submitted on November 20, 2011By Shawn Gaynor - November 18, 2011
...[A] little-known but influential private membership based organization has placed itself at the center of advising and coordinating the crackdown on the [Occupy] encampments. The Police Executive Research Forum, an international non-governmental organization with ties to law enforcement and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, has been coordinating conference calls with major metropolitan mayors and police chiefs to advise them on policing matters and discuss response to the Occupy movement.
Who is the Public?
Submitted on November 20, 2011Lobbyist's Memo Spells Out Plan to Undermine Occupy Wall Street [Video]
Submitted on November 20, 2011Sunday, November 20, 2011 - Common Dreams
A well-known Washington lobbying firm...has proposed an $850,000 plan to take on Occupy Wall Street and politicians who might express sympathy for the protests...The proposal was written on the letterhead of the lobbying firm Clark Lytle Geduldig & Cranford and addressed to one of CLGC’s clients, the American Bankers Association...CLGC’s memo proposes that the ABA pay CLGC $850,000 to conduct “opposition research” on Occupy Wall Street in order to construct “negative narratives” about the protests and allied politicians.
Penn State's Patriarchal Pastimes
Submitted on November 20, 2011By Katha Pollitt - Znet
Cancel the season. Fire everybody involved in the child abuse scandal. That is the only way Penn State can make it clear that raping children and looking the other way or even covering it up matters more than having a winning football team...Get real about rape. Grow up.
Causeway greetings for Sunday drivers
Submitted on November 20, 2011Around this time of year, at a certain time of morning, if the weather is clear, as you drive south of South West Margaree, down the hill from Gillisdale and into Scottsville, Lake Ainslie smacks you in the face.
America's Student Loan Debt Bondage
Submitted on November 19, 2011Higher education today isn't like it used to be. US students face crisis conditions. Washington and lenders wage financial war on them. In addition, dozens of budget-strapped states cut funds to public colleges and universities.
America's Media War on OWS
Submitted on November 19, 2011Early reporting was scant, dismissive, and offensive. Much still belittles, denigrates and marginalizes a significant movement.
British Far Right Targets Trade Unions and the Left
Submitted on November 19, 2011By Mark Townsend - Saturday 19 November 2011
Britain's biggest unions are warning of a threat of violence by far-right groups during national strike action this month, amid concern that fascist elements are increasingly intent on targeting striking public sector workers...The development follows signs that splinter groups from the English Defence League are broadening their campaign from targeting Muslims to trade unionists and socialist organizations.
Shifty Peter Kelly
Submitted on November 19, 2011Exclusive Audio of Mayor Kelly's Meeting with Veterans, Occupiers.
You'll need to pay close attention to the beginning of the following audio. Recorded at the October 28th, in-tent meeting between Mayor Kelly, and representatives from both veterans and Occupiers, Mayor Kelly speaks first on the recording. Apologies for the quick intro, that's the way I received the file.
Yao Graham from the Third World Network on mining in Africa
Submitted on November 19, 2011Based in Ghana, Yao Graham is the co-founder of the Third World Network. He was in Montreal recently to speak about mining and development in Africa as part of a Canadian tour
Police Repression Escalates Against Occupy Movement
Submitted on November 19, 2011By Kate Randall - WSWS
[New York Mayor Michael] Bloomberg...claimed that in the face of what he termed demonstrators’ “antagonism” the police “maintained incredible restraint”...In reality, it was the NYPD that employed violent methods...dressed in riot gear, batons drawn, using teargas and “sonic cannon” crowd control weaponry to attack peaceful protesters and ride roughshod over the rights of free speech and assembly.
Welcome Home: Building an Inclusive Movement for the 99 Percent
Submitted on November 19, 2011By Randall Amster - November 18, 2011
I would suggest...that we consider what it means to build a movement, and more broadly a society, for everyone without exception. The idea that certain segments -- most viscerally the derogatory and divisive tropes of the “freeloading homeless” or the “violent anarchists” -- don’t belong in the movement and should be excised due to their conduct and/or status is offensive, shortsighted, and ultimately contradictory to the aims of the movement.
Reviewing Random CSIS Documents (and CSEC stuff too)
Submitted on November 19, 2011A while ago I requested a list of all the CSIS documents for the past two years. In the future, I shouldn't need to do this, since the summaries will be posted on the CSIS website, and I should be able to pick and choose what I want from there and save my $5.
Criminalizing OWS Protesters
Submitted on November 18, 2011America's First Amendment affirms everyone's free expression and assembly rights. Fourth Amendment freedom prohibits unnecessary excessive force. No matter. On November 14, billionaire Mayor Michael Bloomberg used goon squad cops to evict protesters. Hundreds earlier were beaten, pepper-sprayed, maced, tear gassed and arrested.
America's Media War on Syria
Submitted on November 18, 2011Replicating Libya's model, Western generated uprisings began in March. Since then, Syria's been ravaged by violence. Hundreds have been killed, many more injured.
Syria Targeted for Imperialist Intrigue
Submitted on November 18, 2011By Chris Marsden - WSWS
The Arab League plan calls on Syria to withdraw its tanks from restive cities, cease attacks on protesters, release prisoners and engage in dialogue with the opposition. Under present conditions, this would require the Baathist regime of President Bashar al-Assad to commit political suicide. It would mean agreeing to abandon military action, while armed insurgents are operating under the protection of Turkey, the Gulf States, Lebanon and, behind the scenes, the United States and France.
Racist Letter Claims "Islamic Extremists" Will Set Up "No-Go" Zones for Non-Muslims in Canadian Cities
Submitted on November 18, 2011By Donald Gutstein - November 18, 2011
The letter advises [Canadians] to be fearful because what has happened in some European cities will happen to us in Canada unless we make radical changes in our immigration policies...[A] clue to what is going on can be garnered by a quote in the letter from an unnamed source who describes the situation as "an occupation without tanks or soldiers"...[T]hat quote...was uttered by Marine LePen, leader of France's far-right National Front.
Iran, Nukes and the Failure of Skepticism: Iraq All Over Again?
Submitted on November 18, 2011November 16, 2011 - FAIR
Much of the corporate media coverage of a new UN report on Iran strongly asserts that Iran is close to building nuclear weapons. But the International Atomic Energy Agency report does not actually arrive at that conclusion, and many critics contend that the speculations that are in the report are misguided...[The] rhetoric wildly overstates the actual findings of the IAEA report.
War criminals are not welcome in Halifax
Submitted on November 18, 2011Third Halifax International Security Forum
Halifax, the principal NATO port on the North Atlantic and the headquarters of Maritime Command, is hosting yet another “Halifax International Security Forum” (HISF) on November 18-20 for the third year in a row. Three hundred hand-picked militarists will be occupying the luxurious Halifax Westin Hotel at the expense of the Canadian taxpayer.
A Media Co-op Investigation: Who Has the Land Title at Occupy Toronto:
Submitted on November 18, 201199: Dispatches from Occupy Toronto Issue 6
Submitted on November 18, 2011Issue #6 of 99, a broadsheet covering Occupy Toronto and beyond, produced by your friendly independent journalists at the Toronto Media Co-op. This issue features*:
November 15: 'Eviction Day' by Justin Saunders & Megan Kinch
Files attached to this post:
Constitutionally Protected Symbolic Speech
Submitted on November 18, 2011Symbolic speech examples include leafleting, picketing, demonstrating, marching, speaking publicly, flag burning, displaying t-shirts, armbands, banners and placards, sit-ins, as well as camping out in public places. With some exceptions, all have First Amendment protection.
Massive Police Mobilization Against Occupy Wall Street Protesters
Submitted on November 18, 2011By Sandy English - 18 November 2011
As several hundred demonstrators swarmed into Manhattan’s financial district Thursday morning, police in riot gear met them with drawn batons and metal barricades. Police corralled the protesters on the sidewalk and cordoned off the entire area, making it difficult if not impossible for many workers in the area to get into their buildings...Around 2 pm, police closed off Zuccotti Park, preventing protesters from exiting or entering...Police pushed some protesters to the ground, and seriously injured at least one demonstrator...in the process of retaking the park.
NATO Beats the Drums of War Against Syria and Iran
Submitted on November 18, 2011By Jooneed Khan - November 18, 2011
If you thought the $4-trillion Iraq-Afghanistan-Pakistan quagmire...would bring the declining West to its senses, well, think again...Even as I write this, drums of war are beating in Israel and across Natodom to "bomb, bomb, bomb" Iran and Syria, and go "free" them with the drones and the missiles of "regime change."
The Left and the Debate Over Non-Violence: Lessons from the Occupy Crackdown
Submitted on November 17, 2011By PATRICK MADDEN - Counterpunch
What is truly disconcerting...is that this demagoguery and rhetoric of violence/nonviolence has threatened the unity of the movement itself. There have been reports of anarchists being bullied out of occupy encampments, jeered-at and told to take off their masks, and...in a bizarre twist, even threatened with physical violence for not committing themselves to the utterly vacuous liberal ideology that protesters who vigorously defend themselves from police brutality, or smash a Bank of America window...are “violent” and therefore a threat to the movement.
Living with Communal Living
Submitted on November 17, 2011Occupy Toronto Another Experiment in History of Collective Housing
Toronto - For almost five years the corner of Dupont and Spadina was a hub for local music, art, and activism. The Duspa, Nuspa, and the Gild community houses were located here before they were sold and the residents were forced to find new homes. A tiger mural on the side of a dilapidated shed still stands while the memory of alley festivals and choir practice still hangs thic
Obama Increases U.S. Military Presence in Australia and Asia
Submitted on November 17, 2011By James Cogan - WSWS
US President Barack Obama has used his brief state visit to Australia over the past 24 hours to underscore that his administration’s aggressive intervention into the Asia-Pacific region is aimed at undercutting China’s growing influence. The Labor government of Prime Minister Julia Gillard has unconditionally aligned itself with the US as the means for advancing Australian corporate and strategic interests within the region.
The Coming War on the Occupy Movement
Submitted on November 17, 2011By GEORGE CICCARIELLO-MAHER - November 17, 2011
...[W]alking the fine line of counter-intelligence and counter-insurgency, the forces conspiring against the Occupy Movement have been anything but subtle. In a crude and thinly-veiled information war, lies are tossed about like the seeds they are, and the media duly parrots the line put forth by police and city alike. This “chatter”...begins to spread surreptitiously: that Occupy is unsanitary, now dangerously so, now downright violent.
Occupy in Court
Submitted on November 17, 2011Howe will challenge charges based on Charter
Occupy Nova Scotia will get its day in court, ruled a provincial court judge this afternoon in Halifax.
In fact, it will get a whole week.
Extreme Extraction
Submitted on November 17, 2011Oil production plans could reshape Morocco's economy and environment
RABAT, MOROCCO-- Many well-known voices trying to address the climate crisis on a global scale have posited that less developed countries without a full-blown industrial base can skip industrialization all together and transition away from fossil fuels.
Don't Occupy the Status Quo
Submitted on November 17, 2011By Mick Sweetman - November 17, 2011
The Occupy camps have naturally become a focal point for the movement, a physical manifestation of the desire for a new society within the shell of the old. However, that new society can't be won by a Charter challenge against park bylaws. That new society has to be struggled and fought for by mass movements against the capitalist class and the governments that represent their interests.
Tory MP Proposes Bill to Make Wearing Masks During "Riots" a Crime
Submitted on November 17, 2011November 17, 2011 - CBC News
The bill by Conservative MP Blake Richards was introduced in the House of Commons last month and is set to be debated for the first time. It seeks to amend the Criminal Code to make it an offense to wear a mask, or otherwise disguise or conceal one’s identity during riots or unlawful assemblies...Richards said this is a measure that police have asked for and that it would be a new tool for them to help control "unruly mobs" and help identify offenders following a riot.
November 15th: 'Eviction Day'.
Submitted on November 17, 2011Courtrooms, Comrades and Cameras Greet ONS Arrestees
Submitted on November 16, 2011While people at a solidarity rally chanted outside the Nova Scotia provincial courthouse on Monday morning, supporters of the Occupy movement jammed the courthouse to hear the charges and conditions of release for three people arrested in relation to the eviction of Occupy Nova Scotia on Remembrance Day.
Targeting Iran and Syria
Submitted on November 16, 2011Israel wants regional rivals removed. Washington and key NATO partners want independent regimes ousted, replaced with subservient ones.
U.S. Playing With Fire in Korea
Submitted on November 16, 2011By Conn Hallinan - Znet
North Korea is hardly going to unilaterally give up its nuclear weapons while its two major enemies are designing war games to “stabilize” Pyongyang in the advent of major unrest. The recent NATO bombing of Libya certainly caught the attention of the North Koreans, who essentially said that it would never have happened if the Gaddafi regime had not abandoned its efforts to develop nuclear weapons. Libya is “teaching the international community a grave lesson...The truth that one should have power to defend peace.”
Huge Explosion at Iranian Missile Base Kills Top General
Submitted on November 16, 2011By Peter Symonds - 16 November 2011
A massive explosion at an Iranian military base on Saturday killed Major General Hassan Moghaddam and 16 soldiers of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corp. While Tehran dismissed the blast as an accident, indications have already emerged that it was an act of sabotage carried out by Israel’s intelligence agency, Mossad...Such was the scale of the blast that it was heard 40 kilometres away in Tehran.
6 Burning Questions About the Violent Crackdowns on Occupations Around the U.S.
Submitted on November 16, 2011By Lynn Parramore - November 15, 2011
Occurring without provocation, the Occupy crackdown gives the appearance of an orchestrated effort to thwart an emerging protest movement...Here are some things we’d really like to know.
Police State Tactics
Submitted on November 16, 2011By DAVE LINDORFF - Counterpunch
The ugly hand of the federal government is becoming increasingly suspected behind what appears to be a nationwide attempt to repress and evict the Occupation Movement...The police attacks have had a lot in common. They have been “justified” based upon trumped up pre-textural claims that the occupiers are creating a health hazard...Then the police come in...dressed in riot gear and heavily armed with mace weapons, batons, plastic cuffs and tear gas, or even assault rifles in some cases and so-called flash-bang stun grenades...
CKUT: Off the Hour live until 6pm: Occupy Montreal Documentary ckut.ca/listen
Submitted on November 16, 2011Tune-in live now at ckut.ca/listen.
New York Cops Raid Occupy Wall Street
Submitted on November 16, 2011By Jerry White - WSWS
In a police state-style operation, beginning around 1 a.m. Tuesday morning, the New York Police Department (NYPD), led by specially trained cops from the Emergency Service Unit, moved in against around 220 occupiers, most of whom were sleeping at the time. As the attack began protesters were deafened by orders being barked over truck-mounted loudspeakers and blinded by powerful...spotlights.
Occupy Crackdowns in U.S. Coordinated with Federal Law Enforcement Officials
Submitted on November 16, 2011By Rick Ellis - November 15, 2011
Over the past ten days, more than a dozen cities have moved to evict "Occupy" protesters from city parks and other public spaces. As was the case in last night's move in New York City, each of the police actions shares a number of characteristics. And according to one Justice official, each of those actions was coordinated with help from Homeland Security, the FBI and other federal police agencies.
Seattle Pigs Pepper Spray 84 Year-Old Woman During Occupy Protest [Video]
Submitted on November 16, 2011Wednesday, November 16, 2011 - Common Dreams
An elderly woman, a pregnant woman and a priest were among those who were pepper-sprayed during a protest in support of the Occupy movement on Tuesday...The demonstrators taking part in the Occupy Seattle movement marched from their current camp at Seattle Central Community College to Westlake Park late Tuesday afternoon.
Young Unemployed in Britain Forced to Work Without Pay or Lose Benefits
Submitted on November 16, 2011By Shiv Malik - The Guardian
Britain's young unemployed are being sent to work for supermarkets and budget stores for up to two months for no pay and no guarantee of a job...Under the government's work experience programme young jobseekers are exempted from national minimum wage laws for up to eight weeks and are being offered placements in Tesco, Poundland, Argos, Sainsbury's and a multitude of other big name businesses.
COALITION JUSTICE FOR LEVI OVERJOYED BY COURT RULING
Submitted on November 16, 2011This Is What Revolution Looks Like
Submitted on November 15, 2011By Chris Hedges - November 15, 2011
Welcome to the revolution. Our elites have exposed their hand. They have nothing to offer. They can destroy but they cannot build. They can repress but they cannot lead. They can steal but they cannot share...They are as dead and useless to us as the water-soaked books, tents, sleeping bags, suitcases, food boxes and clothes that were tossed by sanitation workers Tuesday morning into garbage trucks in New York City. They have no ideas, no plans and no vision for the future.
Arab League Pro-Western Despots
Submitted on November 15, 2011Backing Western imperialism, the Arab League condoned Libya's ravaging. In March, they recognized puppet Transitional National Council (TNC) leadership. In August, they formally restored Libya's League membership after ousting Gaddafi at NATO's behest. They're silent on NATO's plan to colonize, occupy and plunder another Arab State, as well as ongoing atrocities in Bahrain, Yemen, Somalia, Palestine, and elsewhere in the region.
California's Eugenics Program (1909-1964) Exposed, Influenced Hilter
Submitted on November 15, 2011California's Eugenics program sterilized 20,000 institutionalized persons between 1909-1964, according to CBS News, Nov. 13, 2011. The news report says that Hitler used CA's eugenics program as a model for his "genetic cleansing." Charles Follett was 15 years old when he was involuntarily sterilized in CA and he is the first of 20,000 to speak up. Institutions breed abuse and I have dedicated my life to helping people speak out in first person about institutional abuse because I believe it is an important human rights issue.
Toronto in Review: November
Submitted on November 15, 2011Occupy lives another day; Condos trump shelters; Support for the 'Ring of Fire' Goes Down in Flames
Occupy Toronto narrowly avoided eviction today when it was granted an stay pending a hearing. The hearing will determine whether or not city bylaws trump the constitutional right to freedom of expression and freedom of assembly. Mayor Ford and many of his allies on council have backed the eviction, w
UK Couple Driven to Suicide by Poverty and Neglect
Submitted on November 15, 2011By Robert Stevens - 15 November 2011
Last week, the bodies of Mark and Helen Mullins were discovered in their home in the small market town of Bedworth, Warwickshire. The married couple had made a suicide pact...When the couple died, they were living in a wretched and appalling state...For months, the couple had been unable to afford food or heating and did not have the means to buy basic household items.
Occupy Vancouver Occupies Everything
Submitted on November 15, 2011By Zig Zag - Vancouver Media Co-op
On Saturday, November 12, 2011, a crowd of some 200 took to the streets from the Occupy Vancouver site to march for social housing and autonomous spaces. Promoted as a “tour of inequality and excess in a city of glass,” one of the main mobilizing themes was “housing is a right, not a commodity.” More radical voices called for the establishment of autonomous social spaces and housing, against state control or influence. About 10 protesters wore the 'dreaded' black masks, so maligned of late by city and police officials.
Pacific Trails Pipeline and Taseko Mines kicked out of native land
Submitted on November 15, 2011Indigenous land defenders block pipeline and mining equipment from entering into their territories
Indigenous people in two separate locations in occupied British Columbia have been forced to mobilize in defence of the land over the past week, blocking machinery and corporate personnel from accessing their territories.
Files attached to this post:
Occupy Toronto Eviction Stayed
Submitted on November 15, 2011Eviction on hold as protesters and City headed for showdown
An injunction preventing the eviction of Occupy Toronto from St. James Park was granted today at 5:30pm.
Lawyers from Green and Chercover successfully argued for a stay against the eviction until in a full hearing can be held to determine whether or not they can be evicted.
Occupy Vancouver Occupies Everything
Submitted on November 15, 2011Report on Nov. 12 March for Social Housing and Autonomous Spaces
On Saturday, November 12, 2011, a crowd of some 200 took to the streets from the Occupy Vancouver site to march for social housing and autonomous spaces.
Occupy Toronto responds to eviction threat
Submitted on November 15, 2011The Crackdown on Occupy Protests and the Criminalization of Dissent
Submitted on November 15, 2011By Andre Damon - WSWS
Throughout the United States, city administrations are moving to break up encampments of the Occupy protests, trampling underfoot the constitutionally protected right of assembly...According to one tally, there have been over 3,600 arrests at Occupy protests...including 943 in New York City, 370 in Tucson, 352 in Chicago, 206 in Oakland and 153 in Boston...Those arrested have been subjected to arbitrary and punitive measures, including high bail and trumped-up charges.
Open Letter To Rob Ford
Submitted on November 15, 2011Mini-Doc: The Eviction of Occupy Nova Scotia
Submitted on November 15, 2011This video explores the eviction of Occupy Nova Scotia through footage and interviews.
Please Note: As outlined in the comment below, the video is inaccurate in saying that those arrested were released without charge.
“The Anishnabek of this territory support Occupy Toronto”
Submitted on November 15, 2011Indigenous Solidarity March, Nov. 12, 2011
“The Anishnabek of this territory support Occupy Toronto,” John Fox told a crowd of hundreds who gathered on the knolls of St. James Park. This was a declaration that many had been hoping for.
You Cannot Evict an Idea Whose Time Has Come: An Open Letter to the 1 Per Cent
Submitted on November 15, 2011By Derrick O'Keefe - rabble.ca
...[M]y congratulations on sending in the NYPD to clear out Zuccotti Park in the wee hours of the morning today. Congratulations for demonstrating, with this cynically timed maneuver, that when push comes to shove the police exist to serve and protect your vested interests. Congratulations on teaching a new generation this painful but necessary lesson about the true function of the police in a capitalist society.
The Police State Makes Its Move on Occupy Wall Street
Submitted on November 15, 2011By Phil Rockstroh - November 15th, 2011
For days now, we have endured demonstrably false propaganda that the fallen soldiers of U.S. wars sacrificed their lives for “our freedoms.” Yet, as that noxious nonsense still lingers in the air, militarized police have invaded OWS sites in numerous cities, including Zuccotti Park in Lower Manhattan, and, in the boilerplate description of the witless courtesans of the corporate media, with the mission to “evict the occupiers”.
Court ruling a victory in the Justice for Levi campaign
Submitted on November 15, 2011Ontario Court of Appeal says police can't have lawyers vet their notes
Ontario's highest court has ruled that police involved in an SIU investigation are not permitted "to have lawyers vet their notes or to assist them in preparation of their notes."
City Claims Winterized Structures at Occupy Montreal Pose Fire Risk
Submitted on November 15, 2011The city of Montreal claims that winterized structures at Square Victoria built of insulation foam and wooden lattice pose a fire risk and must be taken down despite repeatedly being approved by rank and file employees of the fire department. On Saturday I went down to the site with Carla Flournoy where we discussed this issue as well as took a look at the overal infrastructure of the camp.
Occupy Toronto Eviction Notice
Submitted on November 15, 2011Protesters Ordered to Vacate Park as from 12:00 midnight to 5:30 AM. Rally at 11 PM
Occupy Toronto has been given an eviction notice as of 12:00 midnight tonight, and are forbidden from using the park between 12:01 AM and 5:30 A.M. There will be an all-out rally to save the occupation at 11 PM tonight (November 15th) at St. James Park at King and Church streets.
Occupy Wall Street for Change
Submitted on November 14, 2011Good ideas spread fast. This one's long overdue. Real grievances launched it.
Montreal Cops Violently Force McGill Students Off Campus
Submitted on November 14, 2011By Erin Hudson and Jessica Lukawiecki - November 14, 2011
Over 100 riot police stormed McGill campus last Thursday evening, forcing demonstrators, who had gathered in front of the James Administration building, off of campus. Police used pepper spray, tear gas, and physical force against demonstrators..."We were beaten in the ribs, in the back of the knees, on our shoulders, it was unbelievable..."
Bill in U.S. Congress Seeks to Investigate U.S. Boat to Gaza for "Terrorist" Ties
Submitted on November 14, 2011By Ali Abunimah - The Electronic Intifada
A bill introduced in the United States Congress last month would require the State Department to investigate “The sources of any logistical, technical, or financial support for the Gaza flotilla ships, including the Audacity of Hope, that were set to set sail from Greece on July 1, 2011”...The bill, which contains numerous inflammatory and unsubstantiated claims from an Israeli “anti-terrorism” organization, would further criminalize American citizens’ solidarity with Palestinians.
The Battles of Occupy Portland
Submitted on November 14, 2011By SHAMUS COOKE - November 14, 2011
The Mayor, police, and the local 1% had set the stage to justify police violence while scaring the public away from the downtown occupation spot before the eviction; radio stations warned listeners to “stay away from downtown,” businesses closed their doors early for “fear of violence,” the media shamefully reported stories without sources about people from “out of town” coming to Portland with violent intent. The ultra-peaceful protest that ensued made a mockery of these lies from Portland’s 1%.
Arab League Suspension of Syria Brings Military Intervention Closer
Submitted on November 14, 2011By Chris Marsden - WSWS
For the most part, popular support for the Ba’athist regime of Bashir Assad in Damascus and other cities, despite its repressive character, is animated by fear of the alternative — the installation of a sectarian Sunni Islamist regime that will persecute Alawites, Christians and other minorities, and the growing danger of foreign military intervention.
Letter to Occupy Together Movement
Submitted on November 14, 2011By Harsha Walia - October 14, 2011
I wish I could start with the ritual "I love you" which the Occupy Movement is supposed to inspire. To be honest, it has been a space of turmoil. But also, virulent optimism...What I outline below are not criticisms of the Occupy movement. I am inspired that the dynamic of the movement thus far has been organic, so that all those who choose to participate are collectively responsible for its evolution and development. To all those participating -- I offer my deepest gratitude and respect.
District 14 Councillor Jennifer Watts responds to Nov 11 ONS eviction
Submitted on November 14, 2011Please add other councillors' responses to the eviction of Occupy Nova Scotia in the comments section.
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From District 14 Councillor Jennifer Watts
Comments on Occupy NS
Deuxième numéro de 99%, l'organe officiel d'occupons Montréal
Submitted on November 14, 2011Les occupant-e-s de la Place du peuple (anciennement le Square Victoria) ont décidé de prendre en main le diffusion d'informations concernant leur campement. Voici donc le deuxième numéro de 99%, un journal hebdomadaire rapportant les préoccupations et événements du mouvement Occupons Montréal.
Occupy NS, So Far
Submitted on November 14, 2011This video was shot over a period of time beginning October 15, when Occupy Nova Scotia held a rally in Halifax, and ends November 12, a day after the City of Halifax moved on an eviction order.
Oil in the Desert
Submitted on November 13, 2011Will water be sacrificed to oil in Jordan?
AMMAN, Jordan--In March of 2011, The Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan jumped headlong into unconventional oil extraction, and signed a deal with Karak International Oil (KIO), a subsidiary of Jordan Energy and Mining Limited (JEML--a British company) for the commercial mining of oil shale approximately one hour’s drive from the capital of Amman.
Demystifying Anarchism at Occupy Oakland
Submitted on November 13, 2011Saturday, November 12, 2011 - Infoshop News
After the events of November 2nd and 3rd we have seen the government, the corporate media, and even some of our comrades within the Occupy Oakland camp make "anarchists" the scapegoats for actions they disagree with, and we've heard that “anarchists” take advantage of the Occupy movement without “being a part of it.” However, many essential aspects of the Occupy movement are based on anarchist principles and build upon years of anarchist organizing.
The Royal Family and Revolting Cruelty
Submitted on November 13, 2011November 13 2011 - Libcom
The Royal family despite their huge wealth...locked away at least three members of their own family in state run mental asylums for over seventy years. When these asylums were closed, they then moved to care homes and left to rot. They denied their existence for over fifty years, and listed them as dead...The ones that have died were buried in council cemeteries in graves marked with plastic tags...
Time to step up and help Occupy Vancouver
Submitted on November 13, 2011I have been volunteering on the Occupy Vancouver logistics committee for the last five weeks, starting a week before the occupation. Things are challenging, but amazingly we have made it for four weeks and things are still going strong.
The Wrath of Ayn Rand
Submitted on November 13, 2011By FIRMIN DeBRABANDER - November 11-13, 2011
Many have commented on the remarkable callousness fashioned by this Republican presidential field...What’s driving this show of meanness? You might say it’s just what the electorate...wants. It seems like there are some seriously angry voters out there these days...And yet, I suspect this is no fleeting trend, but something with deeper ideological roots. In short, I sense Ayn Rand.
Troika to PIIGS: Shut Up and Take Your Medicine
Submitted on November 13, 2011By Mike Epitropoulos - Znet
The mainstream press around the world is jubilantly covering the change in leadership in both Greece and Italy, as the people in those countries and the other “PIIGS” continue to have harsh austerity measures imposed upon them...In both cases, the Troika...have been putting heavy pressure on these already-conservative governments to step up the speed and severity of cuts in social spending, cuts in the public sector and wages, and of course privatizations.
Financial Tyranny Rules Eurozone
Submitted on November 13, 2011From inception, Eurozone planning was flawed. Uniting 17 dissimilar countries under rigid rules failed.
Right-Wing Christians Ask God to Thwart Occupy Wall Street
Submitted on November 13, 2011By Brian Tashman - Right Wing Watch
While Religious Right leaders lauded tea party groups for taking to the streets, now they are asking for the government, and God, to crush the Occupy Wall Street movement...Earlier this week, the Family Research Council asked members to pray against “these raucus [sic] groups” and “ideological anarchists,” asking for God to “harvest souls for Christ among them”[.]
UK Undercover Cop Admits to Spying on Activists Throughout Europe, Helped Danish Police Raid Squat
Submitted on November 13, 2011By Rob Evans and Paul Lewis - The Guardian
[Former undercover cop Mark] Kennedy has admitted that he infiltrated a Danish community centre that had housed progressive causes for more than a century, obtaining intelligence that helped police to storm it and close it down in violent raids...Kennedy said he went to 22 countries in total during his seven years under cover, pretending to be an environmental activist. The list also includes Spain, Poland, France, and Belgium.
A Proposal to Un-Occupy Nova Scotia
Submitted on November 13, 2011On November 12, a rally was held at Parade Square in solidarity with Occupy Nova Scotia.
Ifo Ikeda spoke at the rally, and offered the crowd a short history lesson on colonialism. He reminded the group that they were standing on occupied Mi'kmaq territory and suggested that Occupy Nova Scotia be renamed UnOccupy Nova Scotia.
America's Media War on Iran
Submitted on November 12, 2011When Washington goes to war or threatens it, America's media march in lockstep, cheer-leading. Fiction substitutes for fact.
Death and Police Opportunism at Occupy Oakland
Submitted on November 12, 2011By MIKE KING - November 11-13, 2011
The State...uses acts of violence as a means to increase its own power while rarely having any measurable effect on violent crime or accountability to the communities it controls. People are not protected, violence increases, and services get cut to fund more police. The police have the power to command resources...without any accountability for police profiling and violence, or even with respect to the basic effectiveness of their strategies for diminishing crime. This is normalized in our culture without very many people asking why.
"Total Policing" in Britain and the Criminalization of Dissent (Two Articles)
Submitted on November 12, 2011The demo shuffled, zombie-like through the streets of London, with progress severely restricted by a heavy police presence. Effectively the cops had decided to place the whole demonstration in a mobile kettle, with lines of police marching alongside; every side street was barricaded with police horses dictating the pace at the front and a further 15 riot vans, 6 police cars and a dog van bringing up the rear. Overall more than 4,000 cops...were deployed. No one was allowed to join the demo and you certainly couldn’t leave...
Austerity Kills in Britain [Video]
Submitted on November 12, 2011Tuesday, 8 November 2011 - Libcom
[Mark and Helen Mullins], unable to get either employment or welfare, were forced to live in a single room of their house and to walk a 12 mile round trip to a Salvation Army food bank once a week...Far from the tabloid myth of welfare scroungers living it large on state handouts, what we have is an ex-soldier and his disabled wife having to live off donated food and eventually finding it so tough that they took their own lives.
How Street People Affect Street Performers (And Vice Versa)
Submitted on November 12, 2011By Kirsten Anderberg - November 12, 2011
The list of street characters I have met in my life as a woman street performer is long and memorable. While street performing, you become a part of the fabric of the streets and are privy to the front row drama that goes on there. You watch “bums” you know get hauled off to Detox, “bag ladies” who just tipped you shortly thereafter yell at walls and homeless teens being preyed on by the sex industry, all in a day’s work singing on a street corner. To those of us who lived much of our lives on streets, other street people became family.
Italy Pushed to the Brink by European Fiscal Orthodoxy
Submitted on November 12, 2011By Mark Weisbrot - November 11, 2011
Some of us have been warning for months about the crisis scenario that is accelerating today in Europe. In particular, I have noted that the European authorities were pushing Italy down a dangerous path, in similar fashion to what they did to Greece. The formula is deadly: force budget tightening on an economy that is already shrinking or on the edge of recession. This shrinks the economy further, causing government revenue to fall and making still further tightening necessary to meet the target budget deficit.
What's Next For (Un)Occupy Nova Scotia?
Submitted on November 12, 2011Rally draws attention to poverty, police brutality, and colonialism
Day 29 of Occupy Nova Scotia (ONS) saw hundreds rally and take back Parade Square after Occupiers were evicted by police on Remembrance Day and fourteen were arrested.
The Russell Tribunal on Palestine: South Africa Session
Submitted on November 12, 2011Launched on March 4, 2009, "The Russell Tribunal on Palestine (RToP) seeks to reaffirm the primacy of international law (to settle) the Israeli-Palestinian conflict (by focusing on) the enunciation of law by authoritative bodies (and) address(ing) the failure of application of law even though it has been so clearly identified."
Hundreds Take Back Parade Square, 3 More Arrests
Submitted on November 12, 2011Day 29 of Occupy Nova Scotia saw hundreds take back Parade Square in Halifax. The day was marked by speeches of solidarity and three more arrests.
To view the slideshow and read photocaptions of what happened, please click one of the above photos.
Letter to the Chronicle Herald Editor
Submitted on November 12, 2011I've copied and pasted a "letter to the editor" meant for the Chronicle Herald from a concerned citizen.
Obstruction of What Justice?
Submitted on November 11, 2011Occupy Nova Scotia Evicted from Victoria Park on Remembrance Day
Having just spent the last ten hours shivering in a jail cell, I don't have much of an idea of what else has happened to the Occupy Nova Scotia movement. I can tell you that the treatment we received from the Halifax Police Department, brought about by Mayor Kelly's Remembrance Day Eviction Notice, has been absolutely deplorable.
Class War at McGill University
Submitted on November 11, 2011November 11, 2011 - Aaron's Reports
...[W]hen about a dozen students occupied the administration building at McGill, just immediately following a historic demonstration in the streets with over 30,000 people to resist Jean Charest's proposed tuition hikes in Quebec, the mighty boot of the state cracked down hard. Hundreds of students were violently pushed off the McGill campus at around 6pm. Tear gas and pepper spray were used against young students fighting for their right to study.
London Cops Launch “Total Policing” at Student Protest in Britain
Submitted on November 11, 2011By Robert Stevens - WSWS
The policing of Wednesday’s students protest in London was unprecedented in its repressive character...In what amounts to the criminalization of political protest, a policy described as “total policing” by the Metropolitan Police was put into operation...4,000 police officers, including 500 extra officers from outside London, [were] on the march — the largest mobilization of police in the capital since the riots in August.
Terror and Revenge Engulfs NATO’s Libya
Submitted on November 11, 2011By FRANKLIN LAMB - November 11-13, 2011
The “new Libya” has entered its own “Terror” which is spreading inexorably, aided by NATO member states including American, French and British [special forces] units known locally as “disappearance squads”. This is one of the rapidly developing consequences of the UN’s rush to “protect Libya’s civilian population” last spring.
Iran: WMDs Redux
Submitted on November 11, 2011Here we go again. Everything that goes around, comes around. We've seen it all before, each time fake. Nothing's different now.
Halifax: Police Take People, Tents and Supplies from Occupy Nova Scotia [Video]
Submitted on November 11, 2011By Hillary Bain Lindsay - Halifax Media Co-op
Police moved in on Occupy Nova Scotia in Victoria Park today, seizing tents and protesters. They were carrying out orders issued by Mayor Peter Kelly on Remembrance Day...When protesters tried to protect their tents by forming a line, police began throwing people to the ground and handcuffing them. By mid afternoon, at least 15 people had been detained, many of them organizers of Occupy Nova Scotia.
Frack Goldcorp! The Struggle for Space and the SFU Centre for the Contemporary Arts
Submitted on November 11, 2011Canadian mining and extractive industries not only destroy space where nature once flourished, but they also disrupt areas where communities live. This dynamic is not exclusive to remote villages, it also extends to big cities.
CKUT Radio: Protesting police brutality at McGill
Submitted on November 11, 2011professor Michelle Hartman speaks on significance of police repression at McGill.
Listen to an interview with professor Michelle Hartman recorded at McGill University on 11/11. This interview highlights a solidarity protest for students and McGill community members who faced police brutality on McGill campus during the #nov10 Quebec-wide student strike.
CKUT's Off the Hour: HARPER BAZAAR LIVE 5-6pm
Submitted on November 11, 2011CKUT's community news program, this is the Friday edition of Off the Hour, November, 11, 2011.
Police Take People, Tents and Supplies from Occupy NS
Submitted on November 11, 2011Pouring rain fails to dampen outrage
Police moved in on Occupy Nova Scotia in Victoria Park today, seizing tents and protesters. They were carrying out orders issued by Mayor Peter Kelly on Remembrance Day.
Human Rights Organizations Under Attack in Israel
Submitted on November 11, 2011By Mikaela Levin and Mya Guarnieri - Wednesday, 09 November 2011
Two new bills aim to strip Israeli human rights organizations of funds and silence dissent. According to one of the bills, which proposes to put a hefty tax on donations to NGOs, the legislation intends to stop groups from altering "Israel's political discourse from within."
Reframing Remembrance Day
Submitted on November 11, 2011By Jason Kunin - November 11, 2011
It is an eternal feature of war that the people who die in them are rarely the people who start them, and they are seldom the people who profit from them. We should recognize the nobility of sacrifice on their part, but we should not let that cloud our moral judgment by readily assuming, without reason or question, that the cause for which they fought was always just.
The Death of the Disrespected: "Smokin'" Joe Frazier
Submitted on November 11, 2011By Dave Zirin - Edge of Sports
Joe Frazier...died this week at the age of 67. Frazier had just emerged victorious from his epic 1971 encounter against Muhammad Ali, in a fight that was cast as a culture war between the "draft dodger" Ali and the "establishment hero" Joe Frazier. If you were against the war in Vietnam, you rooted yourself hoarse for Ali. If you wanted the hippies, freaks and Black Power disciples humbled, you wanted "Smokin'" Joe.
TSILHQOT’IN LAUNCH COURT CASE AGAINST EXPLORATION APPROVALS FOR THE CONTROVERSIAL “NEW” PROSPERITY PROPOSAL
Submitted on November 11, 2011Tsilhqot’in charge British Columbia with breaches of consultation duties
TSILHQOT’IN LAUNCH COURT CASE AGAINST EXPLORATION APPROVALS FOR THE CONTROVERSIAL “NEW” PROSPERITY PROPOSAL
Popular Education at Occupy toronto
Submitted on November 11, 2011First Police Action Against Occupy Canada Movement — More Planned
Submitted on November 11, 2011By Carl Bronski - 11 November 2011
In two of the largest Occupy encampments — in Toronto and Vancouver — preparations are being made for a confrontation with the protesters. Toronto’s right-wing Mayor Rob Ford stated on Wednesday that it was time for the protesters “to move on” and that he would be seeking a meeting with the police chief to discuss an eviction strategy.
Manifestation étudiante et arrogance policière
Submitted on November 11, 2011Montréal, 10 novembre 2011 - Sortie des étudiants et de plusieurs autres acteurs sociaux contre l'augmentation drastique des frais de scolarité postsecondaires.
Gregor Robertson's Next Riot in the Service of the 1 Per Cent
Submitted on November 11, 2011By Chris Shaw - November 10, 2011
It is one thing to know that politicians lie...It is quite another thing to watch one do it to your face. Case in point, [Vancouver] Mayor Gregor Robertson's sickening performance at a press conference on the side of the Art Gallery on...Saturday night. Roberston earned his spot in that special place in hell reserved for lying politicians as he placed the blame for the death of the young homeless woman at Occupy Vancouver (OV) on the protest camp itself.
Occupy Nova Scotia Given Eviction Order
Submitted on November 11, 2011HRM will be enforcing eviction, effective today
News Release
Notice to "Occupy" Campers:
Leave Victoria Park in Compliance with Park By-law
(Friday, Nov. 11, 2011) – Occupy Nova Scotia was put on notice today that they are in violation of HRM by-law P-600 prohibiting camping in municipal parks.
35,000 students march against tuition fee hikes in Quebec
Submitted on November 11, 2011On Nov. 10th, over 35,000 (estimates go as high as 50,000) students took to the streets of Montreal to protest against tuition fee increases. The provincial government has decided to increase fees by 75 per cent over the next 5 years, adding over $1,500 to a student's annual bill.
Opening up the Archives: CBSA during the Olympics and the G20
Submitted on November 10, 2011Given the fact that Vancouver Media Co-op seems to have stories that aren't Occupy related, it's time that I got back on the ATIP beat. This is important, because this shows the way the border can be used to criminalize, suppress dissent across the border.
CKUT Radio: McGill students occupy admin building #nov10
Submitted on November 10, 2011interview with student occupying McGill administration building
Listen to an interview with a McGill student activist currently occupying McGill administration offices as part of a Quebec-wide protest against austerity economics and for accessible education. Over 200,000 students are striking today across Quebec and in downtown Montreal a massive demonstration has taken to the streets to demand accessible education.
Why Are Oakland Police Hiding the Truth About Their Violent Crackdown on the Occupy Protests?
Submitted on November 10, 2011By Joshua Holland - AlterNet
In Oakland, tensions between law enforcement and the community predate the Occupy Movement by generations, and it's proving to be a real obstacle for addressing the legitimate concerns that many Oaklanders have about the camp. Both occupiers and the mayor's office have repeatedly called for “dialogue,” but the sense that the citizens of Oakland are under siege – felt especially by people of color – makes cooperation between the city and protesters extremely difficult. There is a serious deficit of trust.
Mexico: A Universal Struggle Against Power and Forgetting
Submitted on November 10, 2011By John Pilger - November 10, 2011
For most of this year, thousands of los indignados have taken over the massive parade ground known as the Zocalo facing the National Palace. The occupations in Wall Street and around the world have their genesis in Latin America. The difference here is there is none of the angst about the protesters’ “focus”. As in all places where people live on the edge and the state and its cronyism cast lawless shadows, they know exactly what they want.
Occupy London Eviction November 8th (The Indignants)
Submitted on November 10, 2011Nine Candidates Vie to Lead Federal NDP
Submitted on November 10, 2011By Carl Bronski - WSWS
Having been recently catapulted into the role of Official Opposition, the trade union-based [New Democratic Party] and all nine of its leadership candidates are seeking to convince the Canadian ruling class that the social democrats can be trusted to rule on their behalf, supplanting the Liberal Party as the bourgeoisie’s “left” party of government. Toward this end, the NDP has moved sharply to the right since it recorded its best-ever electoral result in last May’s federal election.
Occupy Vancouver Was Already Alienated
Submitted on November 10, 2011By Michael Stewart - November 10, 2011
A common trope has emerged on radio talk shows, on-line media and the daily papers as Occupy Vancouver struggles against an increasingly hostile city hall, opportunistic electoral candidates and the justice system: the movement has alienated itself from the majority of Vancouverites even though that majority claims to support the stated goals of the global occupation. For anyone who has visited the art gallery lawns and is familiar with the struggles and demands voiced by the occupiers, this accusation should be infuriating.
99:Dispatches from Occupy Toronto. Issue 5
Submitted on November 10, 2011Print broadsheet from the Toronto Media Co-op covering Occupy Toronto and Beyond
Issue #5 of 99, a broadsheet covering Occupy Toronto and beyond, produced by your friendly indie journalists at the Toronto Media Co-op. This issue features*:
Files attached to this post:
Court order to Occupy Vancouver
Submitted on November 10, 2011Document gives broad powers to police to arrest occupiers interfering with fire order
The Vancouver Media Co-op obtained court documents that give police the power to arrest occupiers interfering with fire inspections, calls for removals of tarps and empty tents. The order also adjourns the hearing for an injunction to November 16th.
Files attached to this post:
Occupy Canada Sites
Submitted on November 10, 2011Occupy Canada Sites. (Info from wikipedia)
For some reason file is not very big on this platform, you can down load it here: http://toronto.mediacoop.ca/sites/mediacoop.ca/files2/mc/ocub_0.jpg
Apartheid Oil
Submitted on November 10, 2011Crude trapped in shale could transform Israel into energy powerhouse
JERUSALEM-- Major offshore gas strikes in 2009 and 2010 may soon convert converted Israel into a gas exporting country with self-sufficient energy. But perhaps more important than the gas under the sea is the mock crude trapped in husk dry sands and rock hard shale, reserves which could push Israel into the upper echelons of recoverable oil on the planet.
When in Doubt, Blame Unions
Submitted on November 9, 2011Kicking the Cannes Down the Road
Submitted on November 9, 2011They met. They talked. They agreed to talk more and solved nothing.
Spoiling for Another Fight?
Submitted on November 9, 2011American foreign policy is defined by rage to ravage. Lunatics run the asylum. Washington's criminal class is bipartisan.
Occupy Ottawa to stay despite finding needles on the camps perimeters.
Submitted on November 9, 2011About 400 used needles were found near Occupy Ottawa camp site
The campers at Occupy Ottawa were surprised to find 400 – 500 used injection needles that were scattered around the camping site in Confederation Park, late last night.
CKUT's Caravan: Canadian activists detained in Israel coming back to Canada tomorrow
Submitted on November 9, 2011interview with Canadian Boat to Gaza organizer Denis Kosseim
The Freedom Waves to Gaza Project and is a series of boats traveling international seas from various countries to break the blockade of Gaza imposed by Israel. The Canadian Boat to Gaza, the Tahrir, was hijacked by the Israeli Defense Force last Friday. The boat was en route to Gaza, via Turkey, with over $100,000 in medical supplies.
Political Policing in Montreal
Submitted on November 9, 2011By Christian Macdonald - The Dominion
The creation of a new police squad meant to monitor anarchist and marginal political groups is raising serious questions about the politicization of the police in Montreal. At least four organizations have objected to the formation of the unit dubbed GAMMA, and two have filed official complaints...“This squad is really a new kind of political police to fight against social movements...”
Cops Shut Down Occupy London (Ontario)
Submitted on November 9, 2011By Krystalline Kraus - November 9, 2011
The police moved in to evict the site at 12:30 a.m. on Wednesday, Nov. 9, 2011 and barred any new tents from going up. London Mayor Joe Fontana also said that the public had to leave the park by 10:00 p.m. each night to prevent any form of overnight camping.
A letter to Occupy Vancouver, from Ciudad Juárez
Submitted on November 9, 2011Fabricated IAEA Report on Iran Released
Submitted on November 9, 2011Based on forged, otherwise suspect, long ago discredited, discounted, or nonexistent documents, IAEA's report lacks credibility. Moreover, nothing new was revealed. Material from 2004 and earlier was manipulated to look current. It's not!
Premier numéro de 99%, l'organe officiel d'occupons Montréal
Submitted on November 8, 2011Les occupant-e-s de la Place du peuple (anciennement le Square Victoria) ont décidé de prendre en main le diffusion d'informations concernant leur campement.
War Winds Target Iran
Submitted on November 8, 2011Anti-Iranian rhetoric and saber rattling is one thing, baseless accusations another if served as pretext for aggressive war.
Israel Assaults Freedom Waves to Gaza Activists
Submitted on November 8, 2011On November 2, two vessels blocked last summer from reaching Gaza sailed again from Fethiye, Turkey. Canada's Tahrir and Ireland's Soairse (Freedom) comprise the Freedom Waves to Gaza mission. On board were 27 international activists, journalists, and crew.
Making the Poor Pay More to Protect the Rich: Sarkozy’s Austerity Package for France
Submitted on November 8, 2011By PHILIPPE MARLIÈRE - Counterpunch
Under Sarkozy’s presidency, France has caved in to “Anglo Saxon”-style capitalism...Depressingly, the philosophy of the French plan is a carbon copy of the failed Greek, Portuguese and Spanish plans...[T]his austerity package aims to make the poor pay for the banking system mess and goes to great lengths to protect the rich...These austerity measures will do nothing to revitalize a moribund French economy and like in other parts of Europe, it will only further aggravate economic recession.
The Emera Connection
Submitted on November 8, 2011Nova Scotia and Grand Bahama Share Similarity in Private Power Monopoly.
Two weeks ago, two gentlemen from the Bahamas came to Halifax, looking for answers from Emera. Troy Garvey and Jonathan Glinton represent Operation Justice Bahamas, and they have their sights set on taking the home-grown power monster to court back on the island. Set sail for corporate misadventures as we embark upon...The Emera Connection.
North American Integration and the Ties That Bind
Submitted on November 8, 2011After a two year hiatus, the leaders of the U.S., Canada and Mexico are set to meet for a trilateral summit. While the push for further North American integration continues incrementally, at this time, it is unlikely that discussions will yield any grand new initiatives that involve the participation of all three NAFTA partners. Instead, the meeting could be used to build off of bilateral discussions already underway. This includes negotiations between the U.S. and Canada on a North American Security perimeter deal designed to accelerate the flow of people and goods across the border.
Greek Government Crisis Triggers New Round of Budget Cuts in Europe
Submitted on November 8, 2011By Christoph Dreier - 8 November 2011
As the [European Union] presses for a new government in Greece to prepare further austerity measures, it is becoming clear that the government crisis and the attacks on the working class in Greece were the prelude to a new round of social cuts throughout Europe...After Portugal announced further austerity measures and Italy agreed on massive social cuts and its observation by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) last week, Ireland and France followed suit, announcing further cuts in their already-truncated budgets.
Western Democracy: A Farce And A Sham
Submitted on November 8, 2011By Paul Craig Roberts - November 08, 2011
This is Amerika today. A president without any authority whatsoever, not in law and certainly not in the Constitution, can assassinate US citizens based on nothing except an assertion that they are a “threat.” No evidence is required. No conviction. No presentation of evidence in any court. Just a murder. That is now permissible to the Amerikan president. But let him try to get a woman who is not his wife into bed, and he is a cooked goose.
Fire Department Official Sparks Conflict at Occupy Vancouver
Submitted on November 8, 2011Main stream media reports now state that a violent conflict broke out when the Vancouver Fire department moved to extinguish a fire in a barrel at Occupy Vancouver. What they are not reporting is what really happened, a fire department officer who gave his name as Dan Wilson eagerly approved the fire earlier in the afternoon.
Occupy London faces Eviction
Submitted on November 8, 2011An Interview with Participant Mike Roy
I spoke with Mike Roy at 3:30 this afternoon about Occupy London, which is facing an eviction deadline of 6PM today. As I write this, Occupy London is having a General Assembly to decide how they will respond to the eviction order. Mike Roy is a participant in Occupy London, and is also a member of the media team of Occupy Toronto.
Medics Say Occupy Vancouver Prepared for Potential Police Violence
Submitted on November 8, 2011By David P. Ball - November 8, 2011
Volunteer medics at Occupy Vancouver...are preparing for the worst as political rhetoric over the three-week-old encampment escalates..."There's going to be a need for a medical presence if people are tear-gassed, beaten or shot with rubber bullets...Judging by what's happened in other cities in North America, when they decide to clear out protest camps it's always violent on the side of the police."
Far Right on Rise in Europe
Submitted on November 8, 2011By Peter Walker and Matthew Taylor - Sunday 6 November 2011
The far right is on the rise across Europe as a new generation of young, web-based supporters embrace hard-line nationalist and anti-immigrant groups, a study has revealed ahead of a meeting of politicians and academics in Brussels to examine the phenomenon..."In five years' time we will either see an increase in the forces of hatred and division in society, including ultra-nationalism, xenophobia, Islamophobia and anti-semitism, or we will be able to fight this horrific tendency."
Mr. Baird: Don’t Equate Zionism with Judaism
Submitted on November 8, 20118 November 2011 - Canada Palestine Association
We know about your unconditional support for Israeli war crimes, ethnic cleansing and apartheid and we and hundreds of thinking Canadians have no doubt about your biased policies...Frankly, we no longer expect you to treat the Palestinians as human beings. But we believe your policy is...promoting anti-Semitism in many ways, especially by putting on the shoulders of all Jews every crime Zionism, and its manifestation Israel, is committing against humanity.
America v. Paul Bergrin in Court
Submitted on November 8, 2011Lawlessness and injustice define America. Democratic values are absent. So is respect for human and civil rights.
Vancouver Cops Attack Occupy, Extinguish Ceremonial Fire, Assault Elders [Video]
Submitted on November 8, 2011November 8, 2011 - Vancouver Media Co-op
Following Gregor Robertson, Suzanne Anton made talk of respect and acknowledgement of the Coast Salish people; the Musqueam and Squamish peoples; the [Vancouver Police Department] attacked violently the Sacred Fire of the Elders at the Occupy site. They came with the fire department, and violently accomplished the putting out of the fire being peacefully defended.
"An Enormous Rise in Violence in Canada's Prisons": Tory Crime Bill is Rule by Angry Old Uncle
Submitted on November 8, 2011By Brian Topp - rabble.ca
"I've spent more time in federal prisons than anyone...I've had meetings with prison administrators, and then I've explored ever corner of our prisons right down into the hole. I know what's going to happen if they take that clause out of the Act. What's going to happen is that guards are going to feel free to use more force, a lot more force, to control inmates. There's going to be an enormous rise in violence in our prison system."
- Former Corrections Canada senior administrator on what will happen after the Conservative's remove article 4(d) of the Corrections and Conditional Release Act which states "that the [corrections] service use the least restrictive measures consistent with the protection of the public, staff members and offenders."
VPD attacks Occupy, Extinguishes Ceremonial Fire, Assault Elders
Submitted on November 8, 2011Following Gregor Robertson, Suzanne Anton made talk of respect and acknowledgement of the Coast Salish people; the Musqueam and Squamish peoples; the VPD attacked violently the Sacred Fire of the Elders at the Occupy site. They came with fire department, and violently accomplished the putting out of the fire being peacefully defended.
What Happened in Oakland on November 2nd?
Submitted on November 7, 2011November 5, 2011 - Americans Against the Political System
Truth be told, the whole day went by pretty peacefully until the cops arrived. The main event at the port of Oakland was peaceful all through the day...Things took a turn for the worst only when the cops showed up in riot gear to antagonize, and the response to this was a very mixed bag with activists turning on activists and fighting with each other instead of against our common foe…and this is what concerns me the most, not that a few windows got broken, but that solidarity and cooperation is breaking down as we fight among ourselves.
Finding Freedom in Handcuffs
Submitted on November 7, 2011By Chris Hedges - Truthdig
The wealthy and the powerful, the ones behind the glass at Goldman Sachs, laughed and snapped pictures of us as if we were a brief and odd lunchtime diversion from commodities trading, from hoarding and profit, from this collective sickness of money worship, as if we were creatures in a cage, which in fact we soon were.
Israeli Leaders Press for Attack on Iran
Submitted on November 7, 2011By Peter Symonds - WSWS
Over the past week, evidence has been mounting of an intense debate in Israeli ruling circles over the launching of air strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities in the not too distant future. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Ehud Barak have reportedly been campaigning inside the cabinet and seeking to overcome resistance within sections of the country’s military and intelligence establishment to a war with Iran.
America's Imperial Arrogance
Submitted on November 7, 2011America is ravaging the world one country at a time.
Freedom Waves Prisoners Abused and Imprisoned
Submitted on November 7, 2011“[W]e saw three Israeli warships in the horizon… Soon after, the Israeli presence in the waters around us intensified. We counted at least 15 ships, four of which were warships...Israeli soldiers pointed their machines guns at us. This is when our communications system was jammed and we lost contact with the world...[T]hey aimed their canons at us, showering us with salty water...Israeli ships hit our boat and soldiers started boarding. Dozens of masked soldiers screamed 'on your knees' and 'hands up'.”
- Egyptian journalist Lina Attalah, an activist aboard the Tahrir
Whose Truth? Whose Reconciliation?
Submitted on November 7, 2011Conversation with Billy Lewis
The Truth and Reconciliation Commission has come and gone through town, and the pain and suffering of generations has been laid bare. Light has been brightly shone on wounds to the spirit that have never healed. Harrowing stories that should never have happened to anyone are now officially documented and filed for the ages to know.
Canadian Boat to Gaza Organizers Call for Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird to Resign
Submitted on November 7, 2011By Canadian Boat to Gaza - rabble.ca
“Our friends have been assaulted, tasered, beaten, kidnapped, robbed, and imprisoned and we have now learned that the Department [of] Foreign Affairs is telling them they have to pay for their deportation flight...If Minister Baird wants to put the interests of a far-right Israeli government before Canadians, he should apply for the job of Israel’s ambassador...Unfortunately, when it comes to Israel, Baird is soft on crime.”
- Wendy Goldsmith, organizer with the Canadian Boat to Gaza
CKUT's Morning After: Economics in a Time of Crisis
Submitted on November 7, 2011Jim Stanford Sheds Light on the Occupy Movement, Greek Debt Crisis and the Economic Recession
CKUT's Off the Hour: Harper Government Role in Torture Exposed in Ottawa
Submitted on November 7, 2011Documentary highlighting Canada's Quiet Role in Torture Abroad
The “Tour of Torture”, a three day long demonstration about Canada's involvement in torture that occurs around the world, took place in Ottawa this October.
CKUT's Off the Hour: Immigrant Workers centre speaks out at Occupy Montreal
Submitted on November 7, 2011feature interview with Mustafa Henaway
Mostafa Henaway, organizer with the Immigrant Workers Centre talks about a speak out organized at the Occupy Montreal protest camp in downtown Montreal. The action focuses on the workers conditions facing immigrant workers in Quebec, specifically those working via temporary work agencies.
Harper Plays at Neoliberal Social Engineering
Submitted on November 7, 2011By Murray Dobbin - November 7, 2011
The Harper government's announcement that it will change the laws regarding capital gains taxes to encourage more charitable giving strikes an ominous note for the country's political culture. Harper is mimicking...the Conservatives in Britain who are trying to pull the same trick with what they call the Big Society initiative: promoting the privatization of social services through increased private giving. Both efforts smack of social engineering from the right.
CKUT's Off the Hour: Pro Choice meets Pro Life After 40 days of Vigils to End Legalized Abortions at Morgentaler Clinic
Submitted on November 7, 2011Interview with Claudine Jacques and Sheila Copps
Since 2004, in the spring and fall of each year, the pro-life/anti-choice campaign 40 days for life campaigns globally to end legalized abortion.
Campus Rally Against Racism
Submitted on November 7, 2011Students Protest Carleton University’s Sponsorship of JNF Fundraiser
In the lead-up to the Jewish National Fund’s (JNF) fundraising gala in Ottawa, students rallied on Nov. 7 in opposition to Carleton University’s sponsorship of the annual event.
Internet Freedom Threatened
Submitted on November 7, 2011Congressional bills want the Internet censored.
Occupy Wall Street and the War on the Poor
Submitted on November 7, 2011By Frances Fox Piven - November 07, 2011
We’ve been at war for decades now -- not just in Afghanistan or Iraq, but right here at home. Domestically, it’s been a war against the poor, but if you hadn’t noticed, that’s not surprising. You wouldn’t often have found the casualty figures from this particular conflict in your local newspaper or on the nightly TV news. Devastating as it’s been, the war against the poor has gone largely unnoticed -- until now.
Vancouver Orders End to Occupy [Multiple Articles and Video]
Submitted on November 7, 2011"Removal of the tents from the public square on the north side of [Vancouver Art Gallery] would deny the Occupy Vancouver people their Charter-protected right to publicly protest and to engage in public education and debate on the quickening erosion of the most basic freedoms. It would also expose the vulnerable residents of Occupy Vancouver to greater harm. The mayor and city council ought to be providing solutions, not seeking to use the law to impose greater harm on the most helpless members of our community."
- Gail Davidson, Vancouver-based lawyer and member of Lawyers Against the War
Apartheid Oil?
Submitted on November 7, 2011Announcing a new Media Co-op Series
You may have heard of "Dirty Oil", "Ethical Oil", "Bloody Oil" or even "Conflict Oil"-- but have you heard of Apartheid Oil? This is the question that Edmonton based writer and activist Macdonald Stainsby has been asking himself since he visited the Middle East and Northern Africa earlier this year.
Safety and Community in St. James Park
Submitted on November 7, 2011Photos: No Mines No Pipelines on Native Land
Submitted on November 7, 2011November 6, 2011 Unceded Coast Salish Territories- Indigenous communities from across the province gathered in Vancouver, Unceded Coast Salish Territories this weekend to oppose destructive mining and pipeline practices.
November's Tide Is In!
Submitted on November 7, 2011Features stories on Occupy NS and Cuts to NSEN
November's Tide features a photo essay on Occupy Nova Scotia and an in-depth story on the cuts to the Nova Scotia Environmental Network.
Pick up the Tide for free around town or download it here.
The Media Co-op is Hiring: Bookkeeper
Submitted on November 7, 2011The Media Co-op is hiring a part-time Bookkeeper.
GroundWire November 6th Edition
Submitted on November 6, 2011Occupy London, Canada Wheat Board, and homophobia at Tim Hortons
GroundWire Community Radio News: November 6th
This week's edition produced by Ed von Aderkas of CHRW London Ontario.
Hosted by Ed von Aderkas of CHRW London, Ontario.
Headlines
Young Occupants
Submitted on November 6, 2011Conversation with Two of Occupy Nova Scotia's Youngest.
I had seen the two youths, now pushing a shopping cart across Robie street, earlier at Grand Parade Square. They had the look of very young men playing at being older than they were. They are street kids, and like a significant portion of the population at Grand Parade Square, they are the city's poor.
A Dispatch From Occupy Ottawa
Submitted on November 6, 2011Occupy Ottawa is a hive of activity as I arrive at Confederation Park on the chilly grey evening of October 30th. Activists and passersby alike warm themselves carving pumpkins, playing giant chess, and converting donated freight palettes into flooring material for winterized tents.
Mayor wants tent city to go
Submitted on November 6, 2011Nov 5th. After a dragic death of one of the residents in the tent city in the occupy vancouver, mayor robertson stated that he want's to shut down the tent city as he did many of those before instead of helping the homeless.
Tent city residents are in grieve and not willing to leave the area.
Occupy Toronto- Day 16- Yurt Building
Submitted on November 6, 2011National Aboriginal Organizations Need to Rethink Conservatives as "Partners"
Submitted on November 6, 2011By Pamela Palmater - October 28, 2011
Canada's underlying objective in Indian policy is to "rid Canada of the Indian problem" and to free up land for settlement and development...[S]ome of us are shocked when we hear unbelievably racist comments come from the Minister of Indian Affairs or [Prime Minister Stephen] Harper. Why the shock? They have told us many, many times who they really are and how they really feel about our issues. Our wishing it wasn't so won't change that. What we can change is whether or not we continue to prop up the Conservatives and their ludicrous ideas, or whether we stand together against it.
Tragedy on the Commons
Submitted on November 6, 2011Yesterday, a tragedy occurred. A young woman lost her life. We do not yet know the cause of her death (she was found unresponsive in her tent, late in the afternoon), and speculation without facts is a very damaging thing.
Why Iceland Should Be in the News But Isn't
Submitted on November 6, 2011By Deena Stryker - Znet
The belief that citizens had to pay for the mistakes of a financial monopoly, that an entire nation must be taxed to pay off private debts was shattered, transforming the relationship between citizens and their political institutions and eventually driving Iceland’s leaders to the side of their constituents. The Head of State...refused to ratify the law that would have made Iceland’s citizens responsible for its bankers’ debts, and accepted calls for a referendum.
What Happened When I Tried to Get Some Answers About the Creepy Police Watchtower Monitoring OWS
Submitted on November 6, 2011By Nick Turse - AlterNet
Imagine a 7-foot by 6-foot metal box, with blacked out windows on its four sides, bristling with cameras, spotlights...atop spindly hydraulic legs that allow it to sit on the ground or rise up two stories. Inside that climate-controlled cube is a control panel with switches to turn on the lights, a joystick to raise and lower the unit, and various other remote controls that...[can be used] to direct the cameras and watch their feeds on video screens...
The Occupy Movement and the Militarization of Policing
Submitted on November 6, 2011By Ayesha Kazmi - Thursday 3 November 2011
In Boston and Chicago, reports of extended and humiliating detentions of targeted occupy "leaders", typically from Direct Action, media, legal and medics groups, are disturbing...[T]he Occupy Chicago media team further reports that arrested individuals were deprived of their phone call, food and water, and that mattresses were removed from cells, while one woman was placed in solitary confinement.
I Write from Cell 9 in the Apartheid State of Israel
Submitted on November 6, 2011By David Heap - November 5, 2011
I write to you from cell 9, block 59, Givon Prison near Ramla in Occupied Palestine. Although I was tasered during the assault on the Tahrir, and bruised during forcible removal dockside...I am basically OK...If you have energy to devote to solidarity actions in the coming days, please concentrate on them. We must get Tahrir back and hope Freedom Waves continue.
Analyse des mécanismes de criminalisation
Submitted on November 6, 2011Le Procès d'Iban Apaolaza Sancho
Les 17 et 18 octobre dernier, deux membres du Comité Liberté pour Iban étaient présentes en tant qu'observatrices au procès d'Iban Apaolaza Sancho, Gorka Palacios, Jon Olarra Guridi et Oier Goitia. à Madrid, devant l'Audiencia nacional, une cour spéciale pour les cas de «terrorisme».
Occupons Montréal - Mise a jour (Update)
Submitted on November 6, 2011Le 15 octobre 2011 des centaines de personnes ont manifestées et occupées la Square Victoria au centre de ville de Montréal au nom du Mouvement Internationale des Indignés. Le Square, renommée La Place du Peuple la journée même, subi une transformation radicale lorsque des centaines de personnes posèrent leurs tentes. Ce reportage indépendant, réalisé par Manuela S.
First Days of Occupy Vancouver
Submitted on November 6, 2011Remembering Veterans Every Day
Submitted on November 5, 2011Conversation with Corporal Winston Harris, on Canadian Veterans National Day of Protest
Much has been made over the relocation of Occupy Nova Scotia for the upcoming Remembrance Day ceremonies. And while proper respect for veterans is clearly of the utmost importance, it does bring to light the notion of a single day of respect for veterans. Does one single day of collective gratitude and remembrance gloss over the issue of veterans' place in society?
The "New" European Model: Repression at Home and Eternal War Abroad
Submitted on November 5, 2011By Brian Denny - November 05, 2011
The European Gendarmerie Force (Eurogendfor)...is made up of paramilitaries from six member states - France, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain and Romania...It is a European intervention force...which [has] all the powers of a secret service and are immune from prosecution...The paramilitary plans were launched by the former French defence minister...after the French had to deal with internal uprisings of immigrant youth...Eurogendfor can be deployed in times of crisis instead of national armies, which presumably would be less inclined to fire on their own citizens.
National Public Radio's War on Free Speech
Submitted on November 5, 2011Like other major media sources, NPR serves corporate and imperial interests. It's called public to conceal its real agenda. Critics ridicule it as National Pentagon or Petroleum Radio for good reason.
Open Letter From Anarchist Participant in Oakland General Strike
Submitted on November 5, 2011Friday, November 04 2011 - Infoshop News
After the successful national day of action and general strike in Oakland...we see the topic of violence and non-violence growing within our movement and within the voices of corporate media networks. Obviously this is a result of certain actions that individuals and groups within the movement decided to partake in. Unfortunately we are hearing a great deal of slander, and nonsense at the forefront of this discussion...I feel it's necessary to confront this.
Target Iran
Submitted on November 5, 2011In the past five years, Iran faced four harsh rounds of sanctions. At issue is its alleged nuclear threat. No evidence proves it.
U.S. Again Threatening to Take Military Action Inside Pakistan
Submitted on November 5, 2011By Vilani Peris and Ali Ismail - 5 November 2011
The continuing crisis in US-Pakistan relations stems from the strategic dilemma facing the Pakistani ruling elite. At Washington’s behest, Pakistan has waged a ruthless counterinsurgency operation against Taliban-aligned militants based in the Afghan border region...Pakistan remains the linchpin of the neo-colonial occupation of Afghanistan, but the Pakistani elite now fears its strategic and geopolitical interests are being undermined by an increasingly aggressive US.
Mayor "Juiceman" Says Occupy Vancouver May be Forcibly Removed
Submitted on November 5, 2011CBC News - November 4, 2011
[Vancouver Mayor Gregor] Robertson won't say when he may seek a court injunction to have police physically remove protesters, however he said city staff are actively working on the idea...A camp spokeswoman...said Friday morning that the protesters don't recognize the authority of police, firefighters or other city officials in the camp...They said the camp is an autonomous and weapons-free community, and that city officials would be welcome as individuals but not recognized in their official capacity.
Canadians Protest Israel's Seizure of the Tahrir Near Gaza Amid Claims of Sabotage
Submitted on November 5, 2011By Mick Sweetman - rabble.ca
Following the seizure of the Canadian boat, the Tahrir, by Israeli authorities in international waters off the coast of Gaza, impromptu protests erupted across Canada Friday in a show of solidarity with the activists arrested...Activists in Canada are still waiting on word about the delegates, media, and crew who were on board the two boats seized by the Israeli Navy and presumably taken into custody.
Washington's Man in Libya
Submitted on November 4, 2011After ousting independent leaders, Washington replaces them with puppets.
Occupy Vancouver Tent Village is a cop free zone
Submitted on November 4, 2011Occupy Vancouver has been grabbing headlines for 3 solid weeks now. As the mayoral race heats up, politicians squabble over the future of the encampment at the Vancouver Art Gallery.
U.S. and Britain Prepare for War Against Iran
Submitted on November 4, 2011By Peter Symonds - WSWS
Articles in the British-based Guardian and Telegraph newspapers on Wednesday have lifted the lid on military preparations by the US and Britain for an attack on Iran that go well beyond routine contingency planning...The leaks pointing to a dangerous new military adventure take place amid a debate within the Israeli inner cabinet and media over whether to unilaterally launch air strikes against Iranian nuclear facilities.
Rampant Police Brutality in Britain
Submitted on November 4, 2011By LINN WASHINGTON, Jr. - November 4-6, 2011
For a dozen years they had marched peacefully to the street containing the residence of Britain’s prime minister, asking [them]...to investigate the scourge ripping at the soul of this nation...That scourge is the thousands of suspicious deaths occurring while in the custody of British police, in British prisons and in British mental health facilities.
Why Is Big Pharma Allowed to Hawk Deadly Pills?
Submitted on November 4, 2011By Martha Rosenberg - AlterNet
Big Pharma and the [US Food and Drug Administration] have known for years that formoterol fumarate, found in Symbicort, Dulera and Foradil, and salmeterol, found in Advair Diskus and Serevent Diskus, can paradoxically cause asthma deaths, especially in children and African Americans...But the drugs...are so lucrative...they are marketed despite their estimated US death toll of 4,000 a year. That's equal to or even more than the number who die from asthma!
Greek Prime Minister Cancels Referendum on Austerity Plan
Submitted on November 4, 2011By Peter Schwarz - 4 November 2011
Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou has canceled his plan for a referendum on the decisions of the October 26 European Union summit...Papandreou retreated from his proposed referendum under massive pressure from German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy...Merkel and Sarkozy made clear to Papandreou that they will not tolerate any interference of the Greek people in the austerity measures dictated by the [European Union].
Write for the HMC!
Submitted on November 4, 2011Pitch us your story!
The Halifax Media Co-op is seeking pitches for our next paid feature.
Tragedy Averted By Occupy Vancouver Participant
Submitted on November 4, 2011Unceded Coast Salish Territory, November 3, 2011 – On the morning of Thursday November 3rd, a man suffered an overdose at the site of the Occupy Vancouver camp. Within 30 seconds of the man being found, a trained medic and Occupy Vancouver participant from the First Aid tent administered CPR.
UK Dismisses Appeal by WikiLeaks’ Julian Assange Against Extradition
Submitted on November 3, 2011By Robert Stevens - 3 November 2011
On Wednesday, the High Court in London dismissed the appeal by WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange against his extradition to Sweden on frame-up charges of rape and sexual assault...Assange’s lawyers have indicated they will appeal the latest decision to the Supreme Court...Given that the same court has just rejected Assange’s appeal, permission is highly unlikely. This would mean Assange will be forcibly extradited to Sweden within 10 days of the hearing...
Israel Called Biggest Threat to World Peace
Submitted on November 3, 2011A new European Commission poll rated 15 countries. Respondents called Israel the biggest threat to world peace. So did past surveys, including a previous 2003 European Commission one.
The CIA as Executioner: Murder as an Instrument of U.S. Foreign Policy
Submitted on November 3, 2011By LIAQUAT ALI KHAN - November 03, 2011
The legitimization of extra-judicial killing is a disturbing development in international law as other nations are certain to follow suit. In pursuit of pre-meditated murders...the killing of the obviously innocent...has been extensive. The claim that such murders can be executed with electronic precision...serves as an incentive for other nations to develop drones to perpetrate their own surgical assassinations. For now, however, the CIA enjoys the monopoly over drone kills.
OWS Oakland Takes Over City, Shutting Down One of the Biggest Ports in the U.S....But Night Brings More Chaos and Teargas
Submitted on November 3, 2011By Joshua Holland - November 2, 2011
As many as 15,000 people participated in actions across Oakland yesterday...There were probably eight to ten times the number of people in the streets of Oakland today as I'd seen during past OWS actions...[T]he protests were remarkably up-beat throughout the day. But that changed when night fell as the streets of Oakland once again resonated with the sharp cracks of tear gas canisters and "less lethal" projectiles being fired, and flash-bang grenades scattering the crowd.
Special Ops in Obama-Time: U.S. Night Raids Killed Over 1,500 Afghan Civilians in Ten Months
Submitted on November 3, 2011By GARETH PORTER - Counterpunch
U.S. Special Operations Forces (SOF) killed well over 1,500 civilians in night raids in less than 10 months in 2010 and early 2011, analysis of official statistics on the raids released by the U.S.-NATO command reveals...That number would make U.S. night raids by far the largest cause of civilian casualties in the war in Afghanistan.
Are Obama and NATO Plotting a Military Coup in Greece?
Submitted on November 3, 2011By Bill Van Auken - WSWS
The sudden dismissal of the Greek military’s high command Tuesday night, amid international uproar over a proposal for a referendum on an EU debt plan, has all the hallmarks of an action taken to preempt the threat of a military coup...“If I were from Greece...I would keep a wary eye on that military machinery which governed the country until 1974 and which might lie in wait for an opportunity for revenge. We know from many countries: Dr Shock is an enemy of democracy.”
Paying for Being Homeless: The Criminalization of Poverty in Ottawa
Submitted on November 3, 2011By Lana Bateman - Media Co-op
The Safe Streets Act has been largely criticized by groups such as the Ontario Coalition Against Poverty for its vagaries, specifically regarding the lack of a precise definition for “aggressive panhandling”...The act prescribes punitive measures against the poor, and has been denounced for ignoring the root causes of panhandling and homelessness: poverty. The Safe Streets Act exacerbates the poverty problem by giving out large fines to homeless people caught panhandling in the downtown area.
Vancouver's October Revolution
Submitted on November 3, 2011By Sean Antrim - November 3, 2011
In Vancouver, hundreds have taken the North grounds of the Vancouver Art Gallery, with a general message that change is needed now. The mayoral debate has orbited around the issue without touching it. Like the Czar on the eve of the 1917 revolution, the two most electable candidates are fighting over who is better at getting rid of the protest rather than who will better address inequality...It’s almost as if they don’t understand the issue, and the polls are showing that most people are unhappy with both of them.
No Military Trials for Civilians in Egypt
Submitted on November 3, 2011Interview with Egyptian activist Shahira Abouellail, one of the founders of the No Military Trials Campaign in Egypt
Since January 28, 2011, when the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) became the interim rulers of Egypt, at least 12,000 civilians have been subjected to speedy military trials, often without any access to lawyers, witnesses or evidence. Military trials are being used by SCAF as a means to stifle dissent and create a climate of fear in Egypt.
Paying for Being Homeless
Submitted on November 3, 2011The Criminalization of Poverty in Ottawa
Downtown Ottawa is a hectic place.
Nov 5th. Bank Transfer Day!
Submitted on November 3, 2011Washington and Israel: Partners in State Terror
Submitted on November 2, 2011Washington and Israel fine-tuned state terrorism. Both nations redefined the degeneracy of Western societies. They and others benefit from death, destruction, exploitation, and human misery.
Obama's Legacy of Shame
Submitted on November 2, 2011Permanent war, class war, and grand theft define Obama's agenda.
The CIA Returns to Campus
Submitted on November 2, 2011By Philip Zwerling - Z Magazine
...[A]fter 9/11 the Central Intelligence Agency and its friends in the warm-and-fuzzy sounding Intelligence Community...have set up shop again on university and college campuses across the U.S., procuring students, “modifying” curricula, and spying on faculty just as they did in the 1960s and 1990s...“The CIA has enough professors under Agency contract to staff a large university.”
In UK, Most Vulnerable Face Devastating Cuts
Submitted on November 2, 2011By Dennis Moore - 2 November 2011
Labour-controlled Manchester City Council (MCC) has voted through some of the severest cuts to services in the UK...These cuts to services will have a direct impact on thousands of the poorest and most disadvantaged. Manchester is the fourth most deprived local authority in the country, with the majority of its population living in the 10 percent most deprived wards in the UK. Life expectancy is the second lowest in the country.
All Day, All Week (All Century), Occupy Wall Street
Submitted on November 2, 2011By Thai Jones - Znet
For as long as Wall Street has stood for greed and unearned profits there have been those who have stood against it...[T]he first occupation of Wall Street proper occurred during the early months of 1914, when Emma Goldman and Upton Sinclair, as well as hundreds of their socialist and anarchist comrades, descended on lower Manhattan to protest the callousness and cruelty of the plutocratic elite.
Photo Essay: Stewardship work fosters environment and community in the Roxborough Greenbelt
Submitted on November 2, 2011This is a story of regreening, love of place and nature, and the meaning of community.
Continuing their stewardship work, Friends of the Roxborough Greenbelt led 5 work days this fall on two related projects: working to address erosion along the banks of Junction Creek in the greenbelt, and filling in gaps in the neighbourhood’s urban canopy.
Amplified Voices from OccupyVancouver - Week 2 - ...nuff said!
Submitted on November 2, 2011Some more interviews and conversations from the 2nd week of the occupy action here in vancouver.
Come down and see for yourself!
The People Versus the Police
Submitted on November 2, 2011By Naomi Wolf - Al Jazeera
America's politicians, it seems, have had their fill of democracy. Across the country, police, acting under orders from local officials, are breaking up protest encampments set up by supporters of the Occupy Wall Street (OWS) movement - sometimes with shocking and utterly gratuitous violence.
Jack London's Great-Granddaughter on Oakland Police Riot
Submitted on November 2, 2011By Tarnel Abbott - Tuesday November 1st, 2011
"I looked at the Jack London oak tree in front of City Hall and felt possessed by the spirit of the great man. I thought of him standing there on his soap box making socialist speeches and getting arrested because he didn’t have a permit...I knew that I too had to resist it. Something came over me so that I was completely unwilling to be bullied into leaving. I felt like a mother protecting her young. I felt calm, but angry."
Coup Fears in Greece Over Plan to Put Austerity Measures to Referendum
Submitted on November 2, 2011By Peter Schwarz - WSWS
Prime Minister George Papandreou sacked the Greek military high command Tuesday...The announcement fueled rumors in Greece of an impending military coup. These fears are founded on an understanding that the drastic cuts in employment, living standards and essential social services that have been demanded by Europe’s ruling elites as the price for a partial relief of the country’s debt burden cannot be imposed by democratic means.
Out-of-Control Israeli State Terror
Submitted on November 2, 2011Having friends in high places in Washington lets Israel get away with murder.
Canadian and Irish Boats En Route to Gaza in Attempt to Break Blockade
Submitted on November 2, 2011By Canadian Boat to Gaza - November 2, 2011
The Canadian ship Tahrir and the Irish ship Saoirse have successfully reached international waters, marking the start of the Freedom Waves to Gaza campaign..."[We] hope to reach the shores of Gaza in a matter of days. Among the significant obstacles in our way are Israel's military and the complicity of the Harper government, but we have the wind of public opinion at our back and in our sails, which strengthens our resolve and determination to challenge the illegal blockade of Gaza's 1.5 million inhabitants."
Resident Aliens
Submitted on November 2, 2011VAFF film review
We hear a lot about deportation in the first world. Ross Tuttle's Resident Aliens, playing at this year's Vancouver Asian Film Festival, follows the story to the endpoint, where said deportees struggle to negotiate a country that they are seeing for the first time in their adult lives.
Engineering Resistance: From Hierarchy to Real Democracy
Submitted on November 1, 2011Let's Pirate the Parliament
What does the Internet mean for politics in the West? In the Middle East, WikiLeaks, Al Jazeera, and social networking sites have been credited with putting social and democratic movements on steroids, having played a large role in bringing millions of determined revolutionaries into the streets.
Washington Wants its Imperial Model Replicated in Libya
Submitted on November 1, 2011Washington ran NATO's imperial war against Libya to colonize, occupy and plunder another vassal state. Democracy and humanitarian considerations are non-starters.
Libya: NATO's War Feeds Ugly Violence
Submitted on November 1, 2011By Tony Iltis - Monday, October 31, 2011
The specific trigger for NATO intervening in March was that the Gaddafi regime was pounding Benghazi with indiscriminate shelling and threatening violent reprisals upon retaking the city...However, since the fall of Tripoli on August 21, this is exactly what NATO and the [National Transitional Council "rebels"] have done to Sirte and other communities where pro-Gaddafi fighters have hung on...Sirte, formerly a city of 100,000 people, “looks today like Ypres in 1915, or Grozny in 1995 after the Russian Army had finished with it...”
The Oakland General Strike
Submitted on November 1, 2011By Ken Knabb - Znet
...[E]ven if a relatively small number of people actually strike, the mere act of putting such a notion on the agenda is already awakening people to new possibilities. The general strike is not intended to be a mere work stoppage, but a day for positive, creative public dialogue...You don’t have to wait for Occupy Oakland or anyone else to take your own initiatives.
U.S. "Kill Team" Leader Treated Afghans Like "Savages"
Submitted on November 1, 2011By Ellis Conklin - November 1, 2011
The ringleader of a rogue US army unit accused of killing Afghan civilians for sport treated the locals like "savages," a court martial heard...The so-called "kill team" led by Staff Sergeant Calvin Gibbs was "out of control," prosecutors added as grisly photos of soldiers posing with a corpse were shown in court.
Netanyahu Threatens Gazans with Death
Submitted on October 31, 2011Throughout its history, Israel had belligerent, racist prime ministers, none worse than Netanyahu. He talks peace but mocks and spurns it.
A Drug as Scary as Halloween: Blockbuster Drug Causes Cancer, TB and Lethal Infection
Submitted on October 31, 2011By Martha Rosenberg - October 31, 2011
How did Abbott Laboratories’ Humira become an $8 billion a year drug, capable of anchoring an entirely new drug company[?]...The same way all expensive, dangerous drugs become blockbusters: an easy touch [Food and Drug Administration], bought doctors and doctor groups, PR firms to establish diseases as “public health threats” and massive direct-to-consumer advertising!
Seven Myths About the Police
Submitted on October 31, 2011Monday, October 31 2011 - Infoshop News
In any case, it’s not as if a police-free society is suddenly going to appear overnight...The protracted struggle it will take to free our communities from police repression will probably go on as long as it takes us to learn to coexist peacefully...In the meantime, opposition to police should be seen as a rejection of one of the most egregious sources of oppressive violence, not an assertion that without police there would be none.
Greek General Strike October 19-20 [Video]
Submitted on October 31, 2011A video about the recent general strike in Greece (with English subtitles).
Cops Attack Occupy Protests in Denver [Video]
Submitted on October 31, 2011By Joseph Kishore - 31 October 2011
The police repression of Occupy demonstrations in the US escalated over the weekend. In the most serious incident, riot police using tear gas and wielding batons arrested 20 in Denver, Colorado. Several protesters were injured...Other arrests were carried out in Portland, Oregon; Nashville, Tennessee; Rochester, New York; and Austin, Texas.
Living Under Israel's Boot
Submitted on October 31, 2011Like occupied people everywhere, Palestinians understand oppression better than experts. Ask them. They'll explain. Life under occupation is oppressive and cruel. Palestinians want it ended.
Is Capitalism Losing the Debate?
Submitted on October 31, 2011By CARL FINAMORE - Counterpunch
Millions are demanding clear explanations for the economic turmoil surrounding their lives and rejecting en masse standard platitudes from an increasingly discredited political establishment...Fox-News pundits, Heritage Foundation business scholars, glib right-wing loudmouths and two-faced politicians from both major parties have been exposed as stand-in ventriloquists for the wealthy – shockingly, all in a few short weeks.
Two hours at #Occupywallstreet
Submitted on October 31, 2011Yesterday morning I spent a few hours at #occupywallstreet. It seems a bit silly - to drive more than two thousand kilometers over a weekend and only spend a few minutes at the ground zero of the occupy movement, but for complex reasons and the fact I was travelling with a dozen others, this is what was possible for me.
The Spirit of the Age
Submitted on October 31, 2011By TARIQ ALI - October 31, 2011
What is needed is a complete turnaround preceded by a public admission that the Wall Street system could not and did not work and has to be abandoned...To continue on this path will require new mechanisms of domination that will leave democracy as little more than an empty shell. The occupiers are instinctively aware of this, which is why they are where they are today. The same cannot be said for the extremist politicians of the centre.
A Master Class in Occupation
Submitted on October 31, 2011By Chris Hedges - Truthdig
The Occupy movements that have swept across the country fuse the elements vital for revolt. They draw groups of veteran revolutionists whose isolated struggles...are often unheeded by the wider culture. The Occupy movements were nurtured in small, dissident enclaves in New York, Oakland, Chicago, Denver, Boston, San Francisco, Los Angeles and Atlanta. Bands of revolutionists in these cities severed themselves from the mainstream, joined with other marginalized communities and mastered the physical techniques of surviving on the streets and in jails.
New York Cops Sending Drunks to Occupy Wall Street
Submitted on October 31, 2011By Barbara Morrill - October 31, 2011
"...the [New York Police Department] seems to have crossed a line in recent days, as the park has taken on a darker tone with unsteady and unstable types suddenly seeming to emerge from the woodwork. Two different drunks I spoke with last week told me they’d been encouraged to 'take it to Zuccotti' by officers who’d found them drinking in other parks..."
Respect is the Key
Submitted on October 31, 2011by Joyce MacDonald
Last week I told a young woman that I was going to be attending the truth and reconciliation hearing on residential schools.
Residential School Survivors Share Their Stories
Submitted on October 31, 2011Truth and Reconciliation Commission hears testimonials at Eskasoni
The Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada held a national event in Halifax October 26 to 29 at the World Trade and Convention Centre. Everyone, both Native and non-Native, was welcome to attend. This is a report from the hearing in Eskasoni, Cape Breton.
Truth can be an ugly thing.
Occupy NS Announces Dignity and Remberance Day Plans
Submitted on October 30, 2011Consensus decision reached.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - Sunday October 30th at 10:00pm
STATEMENT FROM OCCUPY NOVA SCOTIA
Out of respect for the Dignity Day commemoration event taking place on November 9th as well as Remembrance Day ceremonies taking place at Grande Parade Square on November 11th, the General Assembly of Occupy Nova Scotia has decided by consensus that:
New York Cops Blame OWS for Surge in Shootings While City Wastes Money Policing Nonviolent Protesters
Submitted on October 30, 2011By Nick Turse - AlterNet
The Occupy Wall Street protests and the new mini-society that has formed in Liberty Square in Lower Manhattan, continues to tax the city’s budget. Recently, it has also sparked howls of protest from top police commanders who blame OWS activists for an increase in gun violence across New York City.
Iraq: Occupation Leaves Devastated Nation
Submitted on October 30, 2011Monday, October 31, 2011 - Green Left Weekly
Obama announced on October 21 that all US forces will be withdrawn from Iraq by the end of the year. But the pullout doesn't represent an abandonment of Washington's aim to dominate the Middle East, but rather a rationalizing and retooling of US imperialism...The grand imperial dreams of February 2003 may be gone. But US imperialism remains ― as deadly as ever.
"The Warrant is Coming Out of My Balls:" U.S. Immigration Agent During Unlawful Search
Submitted on October 30, 2011By Jorge Rivas - Wednesday, October 26 2011
The [American Civil Liberties Union] of Tennessee filed a lawsuit this week...on behalf of fifteen residents of an apartment complex in Nashville...who say they were targets of an unlawful immigration raid. The defendants allege that ICE agents and Metro Nashville police officers forced their way into their homes without warrants. When residents asked the officers to show a warrant, one agent reportedly...said “the warrant is coming out of my balls.”
Canadian Government Announces Multi-Billion Dollar Warship Building Program
Submitted on October 30, 2011By Roger Annis - October 26, 2011
The expenditures fit with Canada's increasingly aggressive military posture in the world. From its combat roles in Afghanistan and Libya to its police/military occupation role in Haiti, Canada is joining the front ranks of imperialist countries that are increasingly turning to military force to advance their economic interests and maintain the unequal and unfair international status quo.
Environment Canada Terminates Funding to Environmental Networks
Submitted on October 30, 2011By Moira Peters - The Dominion
Grassroots environmental groups and organizers were hit hard by the federal government's announcement on October 13 that the half-million dollars that funds Canada's environmental networks will be terminated..."For this tiny amount of money, Environment Canada is shooting itself in the foot...[Nova Scotia Environmental Network] has shown us how to approach government and community in an intelligent way."
Documents Reveal How UK Backed Gaddafi’s Repression
Submitted on October 30, 2011By Robert Stevens - WSWS
Documents found in the abandoned residence of the British Ambassador in Tripoli reveal the extent of the British government’s intimate relationships with the former Gaddafi government in Libya...They expose as lies the claim that the seven-month US-led NATO bombing of Libya had anything to do with humanitarian concerns over the Gaddafi regime’s abuse of democratic rights.
Arrested and Jailed for 30 Hours, Occupy Wall Street Protester Tells Her Story
Submitted on October 30, 2011By Barbara Schneider Reilly - October 26, 2011
I...had not come to get arrested, but as we tried to leave, several enormous undercover cops in sweatshirts and jeans appeared, blocked the exits and quite literally pushed us back into the bank...Ready to pounce on us, they made leaving the bank impossible...Police officers in white shirts seemed to swarm from everywhere. They rushed into the bank and told us we were being arrested...As they handcuffed us, we did not anticipate the next 30 hours that was in store for us.
Anti-Imperial Voices
Submitted on October 29, 2011Last August, over 140 prominent Africans expressed opposition to NATO's imperial war against Libya.
Occupons Montréal / Occupy Montreal: La Marche du Peuple
Submitted on October 29, 2011Occupy Nova Scotia's Tour de Finance
Submitted on October 29, 2011Opening speech by Kyle Buott, President of the Halifax-Dartmouth & District Labour Council
Today was another sunny day at Occupy Nova Scotia, but, rather than soak up the rays, the occupiers decided to confront capitalism head-on with a "Tour de Finance". The Tour was a protest rally / walking tour of the big five in Canadian Banking, which are: Royal Bank, TD, Scotia Bank, BMO, and CIBC.
New York City Steps Up Harassment of Occupy Wall Street Protesters
Submitted on October 29, 2011By Sandy English - 29 October 2011
The billionaire mayor of New York City, Michael Bloomberg, escalated state harassment of the several hundred anti-Wall Street protesters who have occupied a small plaza in New York City’s financial district since September 17...The mayor sent 40 firefighters, accompanied by police, into the encampment on Friday to remove several canister’s of gasoline and six electrical generators.
Media Co-op Investor: Annual Report
Submitted on October 29, 2011The Conclusion of Our Year Long Series on the Toronto Stock Exchange
Welcome to Media Co-op Investor!
The Media Co-op Investor Series aims to help the general public understand the stock market, how it works and the major companies which benefit from it.
To learn more go here.
Amplified Voices from OccupyVancouver - Week 2 - one of those nights...
Submitted on October 29, 2011Another one of those nights down at the art gallery where local decolonizer trying to fight for the 99% that are controlled by the the elite, the 1%.
It is getting colder by the day and the campains to the elections are heating up.
...some of the challenges the young community has to go though in dawn of the revolution.
Update on the Status of Occupy Canada Cities Threatened with Eviction
Submitted on October 29, 2011By Krystalline Kraus - October 28, 2011
Here are some updates from Occupy Canada cities and their relationship with their respective city councils. Click here for a directory listing of all Occupy Canada cities.
400% Rise in Anti-Depressant Use: Can the OWS Uprising Shake Us Out of Our Depression?
Submitted on October 29, 2011By Bruce E. Levine - October 26, 2011
Why has...antidepressant use skyrocketed? Are the symptoms of what is commonly called depression — helplessness, hopelessness, and immobilization — always evidence of a medical condition? Or is it time to repoliticize a great deal of our despair, and reconsider the old-fashioned antidepressant of political activism?
Occupying Solidarity with Indigenous Rights
Submitted on October 28, 2011By Krystalline Kraus - October 28, 2011
I feel sad that as a "movement connected," we did not foresee how problematic the term "occupy" would be when referring to land on which settlers live -- and where the 99 per cent plans to demonstrate -- since this land has been occupied for the past 400 years. With this truth intact, how is it possible for us to occupy already occupied land?
Anti-Defamation League National Pledge for Unity on Israel
Submitted on October 28, 2011The ADL is a racist and Islamophobic organization.
Oakland Police Violence Raises the Stakes for the OWS Movement
Submitted on October 28, 2011By Joshua Holland - October 27, 2011
“You see all these people here?” a protester asked...“They're all going home more radicalized than when they arrived”...He was probably right – this kind of crowd control doesn't deter protesters, it steels them. On Tuesday, I only heard more resolve as the evening progressed...These occupiers aren't going away...If the city thought they would simply go away after the eviction, they made a grave, and costly, miscalculation.
The Truth Ferry
Submitted on October 28, 2011Halifax-Dartmouth Ferry Occupied While Mayor Kelly, Veterans, and Occupiers Meet in a Tent.
The 4:30pm ferry from Dartmouth to Halifax briefly erupted with cheers of "We are the 99%!", as a small group of Occupiers from Parade Square handed out information flyers, and unfurled a banner.
Why Libya Was Attacked
Submitted on October 28, 2011America wanted Gaddafi killed for decades and tried and failed numerous and previous times.
The Police Raid on Occupy Oakland Was Nothing New for This City
Submitted on October 28, 2011By Ali Winston - Friday, October 28 2011
The Occupy Oakland movement has run up against one of the country’s most troubled law enforcement agencies...The projectiles police fired in clashes with protesters seriously injured a young Iraq war vet, Scott Olsen...That sort of violent over-reaction and the tactics associated with it are, however, all too familiar in Oakland, where police have repeatedly responded to public protest with violence and have faced intense scrutiny for shooting unarmed suspects in black neighborhoods, in some cases fatally.
Unions and Poor in Michigan Face 85 Hostile Laws
Submitted on October 28, 2011By Evan Rohar - October 26, 2011
An “emergency manager” bill allowing a state-appointed executive to unilaterally fire city councils and school boards and cancel union contracts has drawn the ire of Michigan’s labor movement...The emergency manager law is just the beginning, however. Eighty-five bills now under consideration start from the view that Michigan’s economic problems are the fault of public employees and the poor, rather than driven by a merciless recession and the auto industry’s contraction.
Going Down Fighting
Submitted on October 28, 2011By SHEPHERD BLISS - October 28-30, 2011
Occupy Oakland won a resounding Oct. 26 victory by mobilizing 3000 people to respond to a police riot. They took down the police fence that exiled them from the plaza in front of city hall, set up tents again, and returned to dancing...Some 1500 people later attended a daily General Assembly and voted for a general strike on Nov. 2...Downtown banks were also encouraged to close and demonstrators vowed to enter them if they did not.
Fear of a Black Bloc Planet: Occupy Vancouver's First Days Occupied by the State
Submitted on October 28, 2011By Zig Zag - October 25, 2011
Coming as it did four months to the day after the June 15 Canucks Riot...city officials and business were extremely concerned about the Occupy Vancouver mobilization...Along with opening lines of communication to the initial organizers of Occupy Vancouver, police also began a propaganda campaign against anarchists and 'trouble-makers' who, they warned, would attempt to “hijack” the rally. The greatest fear of local authorities was that a Black Bloc would materialize and carry out attacks.
Libya: Another Lost NATO War
Submitted on October 27, 2011NATO's sole new millennium accomplishment consists of endless unwinnable wars. Coalition partners eventually tire and pull out.
Occupy Updates: Oakland Protesters Tear Down Fence to Reclaim Space, NYPD Gets Violent During Solidarity March [Video]
Submitted on October 27, 2011By Lauren Kelley - AlterNet
Thousands strong, Occupy Oakland protesters reclaimed their park last night by tearing down the fence that had been erected after Tuesday night's violent clash with them police...Meanwhile, in New York City, 10 protesters were arrested during a march in solidarity with Occupy Oakland. Protesters were also roughed up and kettled by the police.
Hazardous Hydrofracking in America
Submitted on October 27, 2011Hundreds of millions of gallons of toxic waste fluids are dumped into rivers and streams annually. No regulations prohibit it. Wastewater treatment plants can't flush out toxins let alone dangerous radioactive materials contaminating areas forever.
Yesterday in Oakland [Video]
Submitted on October 27, 2011By KEN KNABB - Counterpunch
One thing that struck me yesterday was that even under these brutal conditions, the mood was not entirely grim. There was of course lots of outrage and anger, but also lots of joy. Somewhat like in the early civil rights movement, there is a feeling that the old order is now on the defensive and that its ignorant and brutal reactions are a reflection of its inability to grasp the new community in the making, the new liberated community that we and countless others around the world are trying to create, and that we are already feeling in our hearts.
Michael Ignatieff and the "War on Terror"
Submitted on October 27, 2011By Derrick O'Keefe - October 27, 2011
"Imperialism used to be the white man's burden. This gave it a bad reputation. But imperialism doesn't stop being necessary just because it becomes politically incorrect."
- Michael Ignatieff, Empire Lite (2003)
Inside Gaza
Submitted on October 27, 2011Life on the ground in Palestine
Eva Bartlett is a Canadian human rights activist and journalist living in Gaza since 2008. She was in Halifax this week to show videos and photos of what she has witnessed as a volunteer with the International Solidarity Movement.
Haitians Suffering Under Imperial Occupation
Submitted on October 27, 2011Except briefly after their successful 1804 revolution and under Aristide, Haitians have suffered over 500 years of persecution and human misery.
99:Dispatches from Occupy Toronto. Issue 4.
Submitted on October 27, 2011Print broadsheet from the Toronto Media Co-op
Issue #4 of 99, a new broadsheet covering Occupy Toronto, produced by your friendly indie journalists at the Toronto Media Co-op. This issue features:
Files attached to this post:
“Class war on the Work floor” and the 99%
Submitted on October 27, 2011Prelude to Wider War: Obama’s Withdrawal from Iraq
Submitted on October 27, 2011By Bill Van Auken - 27 October 2011
While promoted by President Obama and his apologists as the fulfillment of a campaign promise and a turn toward peace, the US military’s forced withdrawal from Iraq only sets the stage for new and bloodier conflicts...The US is by no means leaving Iraq to its own devices. On the contrary, it is leaving in place some 16,000 US personnel, including CIA operatives and a mercenary army of some 8,000 security contractors under the control of the State Department.
Outsourcing Community
Submitted on October 27, 2011Divisions of Class and Labour on King’s College University Campus
Zona Roberts is looking for a way to get her motorbike to Newfoundland. After a frustrating summer of disputes with her employers at King’s College University, Zona quit. This fall, for the first time in 11 years, she has not resumed her position as King’s most beloved canteen attendant. Instead, she is heading to St.
Solidarité indigène et résistance
Submitted on October 26, 2011Traduction d'un texte tiré de la section solidarity projects/projets de solidarité du site
unsettlingamerica.wordpress.com
Second part of a major interview with Franklin Lòpez made during his tour in so-called «Montreal» about his movie End:Civ
Submitted on October 26, 2011in the context of the upcoming screening at Cinema Politica Concordia november 7th
This part is focussing particularly on the civilization as a culture of rape, on the history of colonization in Puerto Rico stolen Taino land, his birth land, and beyond, about occupation, about fighting back, about Jeffrey Luers, about struggling as a form of love, about saving the natural world, against marxism and the new forms of socialism (Chá<
Violent Police Crackdown on Occupy Oakland (Multiple Articles and Video)
Submitted on October 26, 2011"This is Sgt. Whatever with the Oakland police department. I hereby declare this to be an unlawful assembly. You must leave the area...immediately...If you do not disperse immediately, you will be subject to arrest, regardless of your purpose. If you do not disperse immediately, chemical agents will be used. If you do not disperse immediately, you will be subject to forcible removal, which may result in serious injury."
- Oakland cop ordering Occupy Oakland protesters to leave their encampment
"In clearing the Oakland encampment early Tuesday morning, police used tear gas to drive away media covering the event. This was followed by flash grenades and rubber bullets, fired into the tents on the plaza. They then tore the camp apart and arrested about 75 protesters. Police beat people, slashed tents with box-cutters and destroyed personal property."
- Description of aftermath of Oakland police action against Occupy Oakland
Amplified Voices from OccupyVancouver - Week 2, we stay!
Submitted on October 26, 2011CKUT Radio: Interview with professor Thomas Waugh
Submitted on October 26, 2011focus on recently released book The Right to Play Oneself: Looking Back on Documentary Film
Listen to an interview with professor Thomas Waugh author of The Right to Play Oneself: Looking Back on Documentary Film and professor at Concordia as well as Cinema Politica Board Member.
The Media Co-op is hiring: National Membership Co-ordinator
Submitted on October 26, 2011The Media Co-op is hiring a part-time National Membership Co-ordinator. The individual will work closely with the Media Co-op team in Montreal and be responsible for communicating with members about subscriptions, distribution, donations and sustaining, and overseeing the organizations fundraising.
Nova Scotia Federation of Labour Stands With Occupy Nova Scotia, Considers Mayor Kelly's Eviction Notice Uneccesary.
Submitted on October 26, 2011Conversation with Tony Tracy, Regional Representative of Canadian Labour Congress
Occupy Nova Scotia has a situation. The main issue now facing the occupiers is the fact that Grand Parade Square, where there are currently about 50 tents set up, is the site of the annual Remembrance Day ceremony. The ceremony, which takes place on November 11th, often sees Grand Parade Square packed to capacity with veterans and participants.
How Occupy Vancouver Occupies My Mind: An Analysis of Occupy Vancouver Week 1
Submitted on October 26, 2011By Zig Zag - October 25, 2011
Occupy Wall Street and its copy-cat solidarity actions are the manifestation of a growing consciousness among the population. That many Occupy Vancouver participants are naïve and maintain strong illusions about the nature of the capitalist system is natural, considering their socio-economic status and lack of experience. Nevertheless, more and more people are becoming politicized through the increasing levels of social conflict and crises now gripping the world. That (mostly) middle-class youth in Vancouver are mobilizing is a good thing, and part of a global phenomenon of unrest.
Occupy Regina, Oskana-Ka-asateki
Submitted on October 25, 2011The Heart of the Prairies Gets Occupied
Occupy Regina, hit the streets of Oskana-Ka-asateki on Oct 15th with a rally, followed by the set up of a tent community in Victor
Consenting to Consensus?
Submitted on October 25, 2011Building Direct Democracy at Occupy Toronto
Interviews with Occupy Toronto participants have revealed a wide range of opinion on
the effectiveness of the movement’s process for making group decisions.
According to Brandon Gray of Occupy Toronto, decisions are made through a consensus
system where possible, with a 90% “supermajority” vote if consensus proves impossible.
Mass Killings and Arbitrary Detention Under New Libyan Regime
Submitted on October 25, 2011By Patrick O’Connor - WSWS
The mass killing was committed in the final stage of the NATO-enforced siege of Sirte, which involved the unlawful firing of mortars, rockets, and other missiles into civilian areas. Not a single building in the city avoided being hit, and large areas were reduced to rubble. The operation culminated in the savage killing of Muammar Gaddafi and the massacre of his aides, guards and his son Mo’tassim.
Anti-Democratic Knesset Bills
Submitted on October 25, 2011Israeli Knesset summer session bills grievously harm civil and human rights if passed. Basic freedoms are at risk, including speech, assembly, association, and right to dissent.
It's the Democratic Institutions
Submitted on October 25, 2011From what I have read, opinions within the Occupy movement, while all seeming to arise from a common general point of view, are numerous and diverse.
Occupy Toronto August 25th 2011
Submitted on October 25, 2011How Occupy Vancouver Occupies My Mind
Submitted on October 25, 2011An Analysis of Occupy Vancouver, Week 1
Despite having attended the Occupy Vancouver site at the downtown art gallery almost every day since its inception, I'm still not sure what to make of it all. My initial skepticism of the new movement has both diminished, and yet at the same time been reaffirmed. Confused? Then you haven't experienced Occupy Vancouver.
Fear of a Black Bloc Planet
Submitted on October 25, 2011Occupy Vancouver's First Days Occupied by the State
On October 15, as part of the global day in solidarity with Occupy Wall Street, an Occupy Vancouver was established at the downtown Vancouver Art Gallery. Between 4,000-5,000 people participated in the first day of rallies and marches. At the same time, the occupation was established with tents, booths and portable toilets on site.
Occupy Nova Scotia Served with Relocation Notice
Submitted on October 25, 2011Notice from HRM Asks Occupiers to Vacate Parade Square for a Baseball Diamond by Nov. 6th, 5:00pm.
HMC has just received a “Notice to Grand Parade Protest Participants.”
The notice reads as follows:
Environment Canada Terminates Funding to Environmental Networks
Submitted on October 25, 2011Biggest loser is government, say environmentalists
Grassroots environmental groups and organizers were hit hard by last Thursday's federal announcement that the half-million dollars that funds Canada's environmental networks would be terminated.
Occupiers Have to Convince the Other 99 Percent
Submitted on October 25, 2011By Chris Hedges - October 24, 2011
The occupation movement’s greatest challenge will be overcoming the deep distrust of white liberals by the poor and the working class, especially people of color. Marginalized people of color have been organizing, protesting and suffering for years with little help or even acknowledgment from the white liberal class...[This] is the fault of a bankrupt liberal class that for decades has abandoned the core issue of economic justice for the poor and the working class and busied itself with the vain and self-referential pursuits of multiculturalism and identity politics.
Turkey Launches Anti-Kurdish Raids into Northern Iraq
Submitted on October 25, 2011By I.K. Karlsson - 25 October 2011
At least 24 Turkish soldiers were killed on Wednesday, in an attack by Kurdish militants of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) in Hakkari province of eastern Turkey, near the Iraq border...Hours after the raid...Turkey’s government and military responded with an incursion of 22 army battalions, bombers and helicopter gunships, and drones against the PKK in five different areas on either side of the border.
Hugh Hefner: Visionary or Flesh Peddler? (Review)
Submitted on October 25, 2011By Martha Rosenberg - October 25th, 2011
In fact, when asked flat out about Playboy treating women as sexual objects – animals with tails attached – Hefner still stands by the brand and says it is because they are. Hugh Hefner: Playboy, Activist and Rebel confirms that Playboy is a just a White Boy’s Club that decided to let men from other races in.
More Photos from Occupy Nelson, Unceded Sinixt Territory
Submitted on October 25, 2011A photoset taken by various photographers of ongoing Occupy Nelson.
Bill C-10 Will Create the Prisoners to Fill Conservative Prisons
Submitted on October 25, 2011By Mick Sweetman - October 25, 2011
Bill C-10 is a massive piece of legislation of roughly 100 pages that rolls nine laws from organized and drug crime, to pardons, to child sex offenders, to migrants entering Canada and young offenders into a single omnibus law...["]Eighty per cent of my students are criminals under this legislation. About 10 to 20 per cent of them would be liable to a mandatory minimum sentence in a federal penitentiary of two years for simply passing a tab of ecstasy at a party on university campus..."
We Want to Pay You! Pitch us your story!
Submitted on October 25, 2011Hello Contributors!
As we do every month, in November we will pay two contributors for news features to be published in *The Dominion*. We prioritize news pieces with a Canadian angle, including photo essays and video pitches.
Pitches are welcome from anyone; priority for payment goes to those who have previously contributed.
Israeli Settlement Construction Jeopardizes Palestinian Statehood Plans
Submitted on October 24, 2011Palestinians want and deserve long denied full UN de jure membership and official statehood recognition, including all rights granted other members.
Fury Mounts Among Greek People
Submitted on October 24, 2011By PATRICK COCKBURN - Counterpunch
...[F]or many Greeks, the catastrophe has already happened and protests increasingly involve the well-educated middle class. The strike yesterday involved air-traffic controllers, tax officials, pharmacists and doctors – as well as taxi drivers, dock workers and garbage collectors. Schools were closed and hospitals were only open for emergency cases. Every street in Athens has a heap of rotting rubbish on it despite a court order to the public service union to end its strike.
Occupy Melbourne Says Police "Inflicted Shocking Injuries" on Protesters [Video]
Submitted on October 24, 2011Monday, October 24, 2011 - Green Left Weekly
Occupy Melbourne will today write to the Victorian Ombudsman calling for an investigation into at least 43 documented instances of police violence against peaceful demonstrators, including children, during the morning raid of October 21...Occupy Melbourne’s lawyers have 43 statements detailing shocking injuries inflicted by police on peaceful protesters. These include eye-gouging, punches to the face and back of the head and the deployment of pepper spray, including on children.
Could the Occupy Movement’s General Assemblies Replace Today’s Parliaments and Legislatures?
Submitted on October 24, 2011The Occupy movement is, of course, something very new, in many ways. But it is also a continuation of a longstanding human aspiration, centuries old: the aspiration to take democratic control, collectively and cooperatively, in a spirit of solidarity, mutual aid and mutual respect, of our own lives, communities and workplaces.
Why Homelessness Is Becoming an Occupy Wall Street Issue
Submitted on October 24, 2011By Barbara Ehrenreich - October 24, 2011
What occupiers from all walks of life are discovering...is that to be homeless in America is to live like a fugitive. The destitute are our own native-born “illegals,” facing prohibitions on the most basic activities of survival. They are not supposed to soil public space with their urine, their feces, or their exhausted bodies. Nor are they supposed to spoil the landscape with their unusual wardrobe choices or body odors. They are, in fact, supposed to die, and preferably to do so without leaving a corpse for the dwindling public sector to transport, process, and burn.
Feminist Author Naomi Wolf Arrested for Challenging New York Cops [Video]
Submitted on October 24, 2011October 21, 2011 - Truthdig
On Tuesday night, The Huffington Post hosted a black-tie event that New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo was expected to attend. Occupy Wall Street protesters caught wind of Cuomo’s expected presence and decided to protest outside the venue in an effort to win an audience with him. Author and feminist Naomi Wolf...saw the protesters standing on the fringe of the event as she arrived and decided she wanted to help them understand and exercise their rights. She was arrested for her efforts.
Big Three Civic Parties Commandeer Municipal Resources
Submitted on October 24, 2011Report on the October 22 "Some Candidates" Meeting at Cedar Cottage
On the Saturday morning of 22 October 2011, Cedar Cottage Neighbourhood House (CCNH) sponsored an all-candidates meeting for the upcoming Vancouver civic election. This meeting appears to be the very first in a long string of upcoming opportunities to examine choices among persons running for Mayor and Council.
Files attached to this post:
City of Vancouver Invites Residents to Vote for the Big Three Parties Only
Lindsay Lohan: The Perfect Sex Symbol for a Crumbling Empire
Submitted on October 24, 2011By William Hicks - October 24th, 2011
Normally, I try to not pay any attention to the relentlessly publicized exploits of celebrities...There is no doubt that the media uses them to serve as a massive distraction, and I refuse to play along with that particular game. But for some reason, the ongoing tragedy of actress Lindsay Lohan fascinates me, perhaps because her life’s story ties together so many threads of what ails the empire in the early stages of its death throes.
The Murderer Calls for an Investigation of the Crime: The U.S. and Gaddafi
Submitted on October 24, 2011By Bill Van Auken - WSWS
For Hillary Clinton and the Obama administration to call for an investigation of the killing of Gaddafi goes well beyond cynicism...The savage murder of Muammar Gaddafi is emblematic of an utterly lawless and violent policy on the part of the American ruling elite, which is desperately seeking to offset the economic decline of American capitalism by means of an endless series of wars and provocations aimed at seizing control of vital resources and markets.
What the Establishment Isn’t Telling You About Libya
Submitted on October 24, 2011By Anthony Dimaggio - October 24, 2011
Washington is erupting in euphoria and self-congratulation over Muammar Gaddafi’s death. That celebration was predictably followed by further adulation in our sycophantic press system, which never saw a foreign intervention it didn’t like. The usual propaganda about the United States’ vital role in ending world tyranny and promoting freedom and democracy is repeated ad nauseam, to the delight of the political and economic class.
Repression into Barbarism: The War on Terror in Australia
Submitted on October 24, 2011By JEFF SPARROW - October 24, 2011
Before 2001, Australian authorities gave a certain institutional recognition of the legitimacy of protest. By rallying regularly...the social movements of the 1970s established the street march as an accepted facet of the political process...Those days are well and truly over. The post-9/11 security laws give authorities tremendous powers to use against protesters...[T]he deployment of state violence against anti-corporate protesters provides a happy point of concurrence for neo-conservatives and neo-liberals.
Fuck "Unity", we need SOLIDARITY
Submitted on October 24, 2011The international "Occupy"/decolonization movement has prompted many and diverse responses to its tactics and structures. On already-occupied unceded traditional Coast Salish Territories, many of us have felt that the replication of dominant modes within "Occupy Vancouver" limits its potential.
Taking Liberties: When Elite Representatives Define 'National Security'
Submitted on October 24, 2011By Matthew Behrens - rabble.ca
At a time when some NGO representatives lament what they term "torture fatigue" and "national security fatigue"...it's important to remind ourselves that such violations are not a consequence of or reaction to events of ten years ago, but are grounded in historical patterns and power dynamics that continue to evolve. We neglect them at our peril.
Foreign Workers Abused in Nova Scotia
Submitted on October 24, 2011This article was originally published by OpenFile, with files from Justin Ling and the Halifax Media Co-op.
Talking Back to the "Big 5"
Submitted on October 23, 2011Vancouver's October 22 Run-on-the-Banks Protest
For two to three hours on the Saturday afternoon of 22 October 2011, a lively and diverse crowd departed from the Occupy Vancouver site to follow the lead of the Direct Action Committee and make a "run on the banks."
Global Economic Crisis Deepens
Submitted on October 23, 2011Global Depression grips world economies. Destructive polices fueled today's crisis. Conditions are fast coming to a head.
Civil Liberties Study Finds Misuse of Tasers by Police Across New York State
Submitted on October 23, 2011October 19, 2011 - New York Civil Liberties Union
“Our analysis shows that police officers are using Tasers in [an] inappropriate, irresponsible and downright deadly manner...This disturbing pattern of misuse and abuse endangers lives. Law enforcement agencies that choose to use Tasers must adopt clear and effective policies governing their use, and they must do so without delay.”
- New York Civil Liberties Union (NYCLU) Executive Director Donna Lieberman
Issue #3. 99: Dispatches from Occupy Toronto
Submitted on October 23, 2011Issue # 3 of 99, a new broadsheet covering Occupy Toronto. This issue features:
Occupation and Austerity by Michael Romandel
Night March Takes 'Toronto's Times Square' by J Walker
Consenting to Consensus? by Owen Sheppard
In Brief: Occupy around the World
Files attached to this post:
Everybody’s Son: The Great Israel-Hamas Prisoner Swap
Submitted on October 23, 2011By URI AVNERY - October 21-23, 2011
THE MOST sensible...sentence uttered this week sprang from the lips of a 5-year old boy...After the prisoner swap, one of those smart-aleck TV reporters asked him: “Why did we release 1027 Arabs for one Israeli soldier?” He expected, of course, the usual answer: because one Israeli is worth a thousand Arabs...The little boy replied: “Because we caught many of them and they caught only one.”
UK Undercover Cops Use Sex to Boost Activist Cred
Submitted on October 23, 2011Sunday 23 October 2011 - The Guardian
A former police spymaster who spent years living deep undercover in the protest movement has confessed he tricked an innocent woman into having a long-term relationship with him, as part of an elaborate attempt to lend "credibility" to his alter ego...The Guardian has detailed the cases of seven undercover police officers known to have infiltrated protest movements...Of those, five have had sexual relationships with women who were oblivious to their real identities.
Photo Essay: Occupy Toronto, October 22, 2011
Submitted on October 23, 2011At two o'clock in the afternoon on Saturday, October 22, 2011—one week after the inaugural march and "occupation" of St. James Park—thousands gathered at the camp at King Street E and Jarvis in downtown Toronto for a march to City Hall.
Britain’s Own Pravda-Style Propaganda
Submitted on October 23, 2011By David Cromwell - October 23, 2011
Ten years later, the violent consequences of the invasion of Afghanistan are truly appalling...[T]he deaths of Afghan children, and the suffering of the people of Afghanistan, are seemingly of little consequence for most Western journalists who would rather focus on the ‘progress’ and ‘achievements’ of the NATO ‘campaign’.
Just Plane Stupid
Submitted on October 23, 2011An interview on climate justice and the aviation industry
In this interview we hear from Dan and Holly, two climate justice activists who are currently on tour around Canada to raise awareness around the environmental impacts of the aviation industry. The tour is called the Aviation Justice Express tour.
The "Liberation" of Libya
Submitted on October 23, 2011By Bill Van Auken - 22 October 2011
What is being celebrated...is not the liberation of the Libyan people, but rather the victory of the major imperialist powers in a war aimed at turning the clock back to the days of colonialism...It has been achieved by means of a NATO bombing campaign that has reduced much of the country’s infrastructure to rubble and left thousands of Libyan men, women and children dead and wounded.
Why the Far Right “Supports” the Occupy Movement
Submitted on October 23, 2011By Shamus Cooke - Znet
Should Occupiers be concerned that the Nazi Party has given official “support” to the Occupy Movement? Or be worried that other far-right groups...are "pro occupy?” Absolutely. These groups have no place in an anti-corporate, pro-worker movement. The Occupy Movement's greatest strength — its broad appeal — can quickly become an exploitable weakness, and the far right smells blood.
OCCUPY(ED) CALGARY
Submitted on October 23, 2011Kanada's Oil Capital gets Occupied x 2
In a province home to the widest income disparity in Kanada, on the occupied land of the Stoney and Blackfoot nations, courageous folks have been occupying the belly of big oil since last week.
Occupy the Banks
Submitted on October 22, 2011A 500-strong march through the downtown banking district took place on the afternoon of 22 October.
The march hit the big 4 banks, occupying the offices and having customers close their accounts.
The final stop - TD Bank's main branch at Georgia and Granville - took over the space past closing time, until police showed up at the location.
#OccupyVancouver 'run on banks' takes over branches, accounts closed
Submitted on October 22, 2011Several hundred demonstrators from #OccupyVancouver staged a 'run on the banks' today, with nearly a dozen closing their accounts at major Canadian financial institutions -- ending the action with a take-over of a Toronto Dominion bank branch, dance party and sit-in.
Israel Arrests Palestinians While Releasing Others
Submitted on October 22, 2011Israel can't be trusted. Its promises lack credibility and honor. Despite releasing 447 prisoners and promising another 550, new arrests are made regularly.
Occupy Vancouver - Run on the Banks
Submitted on October 22, 2011OCCUPY VANCOUVER - Hundreds took to the downtown streets today - leaving the growing tent city at the Vancouver Art Gallery for a run on the banks. Protesters targeted several branches in the centre of the city calling on people to close their accounts.
Turkey Preparing Military Intervention in Syria
Submitted on October 22, 2011By Jean Shaoul - WSWS
Turkey is playing a major role in preparing a military push on NATO’s behalf into Syria, exploiting and militarizing the ongoing popular protests against the repressive Assad regime in order to install an imperialist-backed puppet regime...The unrest in Syria...has been largely led by Islamist forces sponsored by the Gulf monarchies, particularly Saudi Arabia. Turkey’s intervention threatens a full-blown civil war and a wider conflagration in the region.
Alabama Workers Meet Harsh Immigration Law with Wildcat Strikes
Submitted on October 22, 2011By Eduardo Soriano-Castillo - October 22, 2011
An all-out attack on immigrant workers, their families, and communities continues in the South and West. In Alabama, immigrant workers met it with a day of wildcat strikes...Immigrant rights advocates say Alabama’s law is the harshest. It gives police the right to stop and investigate anyone they “reasonably suspect” of being undocumented — in other words, an open invitation to racially profile.
America’s New African Empire
Submitted on October 22, 2011By PAUL CRAIG ROBERTS - October 21-23, 2011
If Washington’s plans succeed, Libya will become another American puppet state. Most of the cities, towns, and infrastructure have been destroyed by air strikes by the air forces of the US and Washington’s NATO puppets. US and European firms will now get juicy contracts, financed by US taxpayers, to rebuild Libya. The new real estate will be carefully allocated to lubricate a new ruling class picked by Washington. This will put Libya firmly under Washington’s thumb.
How Occupy Wall Street Should Relate to Established Liberal Groups
Submitted on October 22, 2011By Mark Engler - October 21, 2011
Within the call of “We Are the 99 Percent” is the idea that, while no one can take over the movement — no single individual or group can declare it over or announce that its ambitions have been satisfied — the coalition of those invited to take part is vast. The movement draws power from its reach. And that is no small part of its brilliance.
Australian Cops Attack Occupy Melbourne Protest Camp
Submitted on October 22, 2011By Margaret Rees and Patrick O’Connor - 22 October 2011
A violent operation, involving hundreds of riot and mounted police...was launched yesterday against the Occupy Melbourne protest camp. At least 95 people were arrested, many after being brutally assaulted by multiple police officers. Demonstrators were kicked, punched and blinded with [pepper] spray. One was hospitalized after two police pinned him to the ground while another kicked him in the groin.
"We Don't Back the Juice Man:" Vancouver Artists Do Not Support Gregor Robertson
Submitted on October 22, 2011October 21, 2011 - Vancouver Media Co-op
Recently, a campaign website funded by Vision Vancouver was launched, designed to generate support for Vision amongst the arts community. The We-Back-the-Juiceman campaign has no broad basis of support in Vancouver's arts community. Although some artists might support Gregor Robertson and Vision Vancouver, many more do not.
Arrest Bush!
Submitted on October 21, 2011200 people from all over the lower mainland attended a demonstration outside the Sheraton in Surrey, where George Bush Jr., former president of the United States, was speaking. The rally soon took an intersection, and then blocked access to the roadways before Bush and guests at the talk could leave.
Class War in America
Submitted on October 21, 2011America's a kleptocracy run by political criminals complicit with corporate crooks. They strip-mine working households for profit. Systemic corruption benefits at the public's expense.
UK Cops Make Brutal Attack on Irish Traveller Camp
Submitted on October 21, 2011By Jordan Shilton - WSWS
The eviction of an Irish traveller encampment at Dale Farm in southeast England began on Wednesday morning. Police led an operation to remove those that remained on the site after the high court ruled on Tuesday that plans by...Basildon council to forcibly evict the residents was “proportionate,” ending a 10-year legal battle...Several people were tasered, and at least three were hospitalized as a result of baton attacks. It is the first time tasers have been used for “crowd control” in Britain.
How Occupy Wall Street Has Exposed the Militarization of U.S. Law Enforcement
Submitted on October 21, 2011By Rania Khalek - October 20, 2011
Police repression in America is hardly new. Low-income neighborhoods, communities of color and political activists have always had to deal with unnecessary shows of force by some police officers. Thanks to a populist uprising threatening a status quo that benefits the top tier of American society to the detriment of the bottom 99 percent, many Americans for the first time are witnessing the U.S. police state in action.
Pink Crude: Tar Sands Supporters Criticized for Using Gay Rights to Mask Environmental Disaster
Submitted on October 21, 2011By Jesse Grass - The Dominion
As the negative environmental and health impacts of the Alberta tar sands grow, defenders of the huge oil extraction project continue to try to green-wash the endeavor by leaning on arguments that make it appear more environmentally friendly than it truly is. Recently, industry backers have added "pink-washing" — brandishing queer rights to promote Alberta's oil as an ethical choice.
Guantanamo: The U.S.'s Very Own Concentration Camp
Submitted on October 21, 2011By Marti Hiken and Luke Hiken - Dissident Voice
At a time when the U.S. pretends to be a beacon of freedom and liberty to the world, one would expect that Guantanamo Bay Detention Camp – a symbol of blatant repression — would not exist. It logically would be seen as an anathema the U.S. would want to keep hidden. Instead, the U.S. flaunts it like a teenager showing off his muscles.
U.S. and NATO Murder Muammar Gaddafi
Submitted on October 21, 2011By Bill Van Auken - 21 October 2011
Gaddafi was apparently traveling in a convoy of vehicles attempting to break out of the [besieged city of Sirte] after the last bastion of resistance had fallen to the NATO-backed “rebels”. NATO warplanes attacked the convoy at 8:30 a.m. Thursday morning, leaving a number of vehicles in flames and preventing it from moving forward. Then the armed anti-Gaddafi militias moved in for the kill.
U.S. Hawks Rally for Strikes Against Iran
Submitted on October 21, 2011By Jim Lobe - October 21, 2011
Key neo-conservatives and other right-wing hawks who championed the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq are calling for military strikes against Iran in retaliation for its purported murder-for-hire plot against the Saudi ambassador..."We can strike at the Iranian Revolution Guard Corps, and weaken them. And we can hit the regime's nuclear weapons program, and set it back..."
Occupation: Antagonism & Potentiality
Submitted on October 20, 2011The on-going occupation of social space is heavily contested, from within and without, and throughout us all. There exists in Occupy Vancouver’s every moment and every relation a complexity of contradictions, which startlingly reflect those shared between us.
Hank Skinner: Unjustly Sentenced to Death
Submitted on October 20, 2011Texas Governor Rick Perry wants to murder another innocent man.
Occupy Surrey: George Bush Met by the War Criminal Welcoming Committee
Submitted on October 20, 2011Tea Partiers: The Self-Hating 99 Per Cent
Submitted on October 20, 2011By Heather Digby Parton - Al Jazeera
Support for capitalism - and antipathy toward government interference in it - is the very essence of Tea Party populism...It was never about corporate greed, but was about the usual right wing resentment at the government spending their tax money on people they don't think have earned it. These are not billionaire bankers - they are the people on the lower rungs of the ladder.
Principled Economic Co-ops at Occupy Nova Scotia
Submitted on October 20, 2011Greece Crippled as its People Say No to Poverty
Submitted on October 20, 2011By Patrick Cockburn - October 20, 2011
Black-masked youths hurled chunks of marble and petrol bombs at riot police in front of the parliament building in the centre of Athens. Police responded with stun grenades and tear gas as clashes spread to neighbouring streets after mass rallies, where protesters demanded an end to tax rises and salary cuts that they say are reducing them to poverty. Acrid plumes of black smoke rose from blazing bins of uncollected rubbish and mixed with the white clouds of tear gas. Chunks of rock and broken glass littered the streets around the parliament.
Hillary Clinton in Tripoli
Submitted on October 20, 2011Obama and Clinton are unindicted war criminals.
Balaclava! VMC Broadsheet Issue 33
Submitted on October 20, 2011October 16, 2011 - Vancouver Media Co-op
The October edition of the Balaclava! features updates from the Insite decision, the Missing Women's Inquiry, the SFU SFSS lockout, and more.
The Son of Africa Claims a Continent’s Crown Jewels
Submitted on October 20, 2011By John Pilger - October 20, 2011
On 14 October, President Barack Obama announced he was sending United States special forces troops to Uganda to join the civil war there...With Libya secured, an American invasion of the African continent is under way...However, the main reason the US is invading Africa is no different from that which ignited the Vietnam war. It is China...China is replacing al-Qaeda as the official American “threat”...With Osama bin Laden airbrushed, China takes the mantle.
The Political Economy of Indigenous Dispossession in Canada
Submitted on October 20, 2011By Shiri Pasternak - October 20, 2011
...[W]hy is the Department of National Defence spying on Indigenous communities in Canada?...It is the fear of economic disruption that is driving Canada to spy on Indigenous peoples. Moreover, in recent years, it has become the fear of an exceedingly more dangerous risk to business-as-usual in this country than paranoid phantoms of espionage. It is the fear of Aboriginal Title.
"Letting Us Stay"
Submitted on October 20, 2011Occupy NS participants praise and denounce the police
One of the first speakers at the Occupy Nova Scotia rally in Parade Square last night had a lot of people to thank. "Thank you everyone for braving the rain, thank you for the people who are staying here, thank you to those who are making food, building tents, and for just everything. This is amazing. Thank you," exclaimed Wilf on day five of of a protest that has se
Occupy Vancouver Day 5 - Tom Morello
Submitted on October 20, 2011Obama's Imperial Arrogance
Submitted on October 19, 2011Candidate Obama promised peace. As president, he double downed Bush and then some, waging multiple direct and proxy wars.
Jam the Deportation Snitch Lines! Stop Racism!
Submitted on October 19, 2011October 19th, 2011 - No One Is Illegal
The Conservatives claim they want to hear from us, so let’s make our voices heard! One of the oldest and most important forms of day-to-day resistance is impairment: let’s jam these racist snitch lines and make them ineffective and irrelevant. Let us reaffirm that we are opposed to displacement, not migration; we are opposed to occupation, not resistance!
Ontario: KLR Reportback on Foodstock - Protect the Land that Feeds Us
Submitted on October 19, 2011We first heard of the Mega Quarry years ago, while traveling in the Collingwood area. Local environmentalists were talking about a proposed quarry just to the south, a quarry larger than any ever dug in this country, so large it could swallow much of downtown Toronto and so deep that it would be taller than Niagara Falls. It was a nightmare vision – beyond the smog of thousands of trucks, across the polluted springs fed by poisoned aquifers, a devastating wound in the earth would extend past the horizon.
Occupy Nova Scotia - Day Five
Submitted on October 19, 2011"Make the Rich Pay"
Submitted on October 19, 2011Occupy Ottawa takes streets again, further actions planned
The “Occupy” Ottawa movement took to the streets for the second time on Wednesday evening, Oct. 19. Over 200 protesters marched from the tent city occupation at Confederation Park down Rideau Street past Parliament Hill before returning to the Sheraton Hotel on Albert Street.
Flight attendants doubt Federal government willing to change
Submitted on October 19, 2011CUPE 4092 at Occupy Toronto
CUPE flight attendants are helping occupy Toronto, but some doubt the Harper government will correct the inequities provoking worldwide unrest against the “1%.”
Occupy Vancouver Day 4 - The issue of indigenous land
Submitted on October 19, 2011Occupy Toronto: The First 48 Hours
Submitted on October 19, 2011On Saturday October 15th, the people of Toronto joined with inhabitants of 950 other cities across the world in initating an international “Day of Global Change.” After converging outside the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX) at King and Bay, an estimated 3000 people marched east to St James Park to kick off Occupy Toronto , a movement based on Occupy Wall Street, now entering its fourth
Greece Threatens Refuse Workers with Army Intervention on Eve of General Strike
Submitted on October 19, 2011By Robert Stevens - 19 October 2011
Greece’s social democratic PASOK government is preparing to use the army against striking Athens refuse workers and threatening mass arrests. The attack on the refuse workers is a pre-emptive move against the entire Greek working class ahead of today’s 48-hour general strike...On Sunday evening, riot police engaged in pitched battles with workers who had been occupying Athens’s main landfill site northwest of the city since the beginning of the dispute.
Reflections for the U.S. Occupy Movement from Spain
Submitted on October 19, 2011By PETER GELDERLOOS - October 14-16, 2011
It seems that in many cities in the US, the occupy movement is marked by a certain chauvinism that at most takes some inspiration from struggles in other parts of the world, without taking any critical lessons. The idea of “taking back America” is a tried and true strategy for self-defeat: creating a fictive community that in reality includes conflicting interests and conflicting desires and will inevitably be directed by its most powerful elements.
A Critical Discussing of the Occupy Movement
Submitted on October 19, 2011An Interview with Alex Khasnabish
I interview Alex Khasnabish, professor in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at Mount St. Vincent University, whose research has focused significantly on social movements. We get into comparisons with the "anti-globalization movement of the late ' 90s 2000s; consequences of the "non-ideological" stance; question if this represents a challenge to capitalism, etc.
Life in East Jerusalem
Submitted on October 18, 2011Palestinians suffer grievously under occupation, including in East Jerusalem. Israel wants it entirely Judaized as its capital even though legally it's an international city under UN trusteeship.
Libyan City of Sirte Destroyed by NATO and "Rebels"
Submitted on October 18, 2011By Chris Marsden - WSWS
The Libyan town of Sirte has been all but destroyed and its inhabitants turned into homeless refugees. This situation has gone largely unreported, but those press reports that have emerged paint a picture of a city being reduced to ruins by attacks of the National Transitional Council (NTC) “rebels” and NATO bombing raids against which it has no defense.
Wall Street Firms Spy on Protestors In Tax-Funded Center
Submitted on October 18, 2011By PAM MARTENS - Counterpunch
Wall Street’s audacity to corrupt knows no bounds and the co-optation of government by the 1 per cent knows no limits. How else to explain $150 million of taxpayer money going to equip a government facility in lower Manhattan where Wall Street firms, serially charged with corruption, get to sit alongside the New York Police Department and spy on law abiding citizens...Wall Street’s criminals have not been indicted or sent to jail because they have effectively become the police.
Palestinians Celebrate Release of Prisoners
Submitted on October 18, 201118 October 2011 - Al Jazeera
Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians have celebrated the homecoming of over 400 prisoners released in the first phase of an agreement brokered with Israel for the exchange of Gilad Shalit, the captured Israeli soldier...More than 5,000 Palestinians are in Israeli prisons - some for taking up arms against Israel's illegal occupation of Palestinian lands, others on what rights groups call questionable charges.
“Real” Value: Comments on the “Labor Theory of Value” and the Wealth of Capitalist Society
Submitted on October 18, 2011In the wake of the crisis and the disappointments caused by finance capital – first for itself and then for the rest of the world – the so-called “real economy” has attained a new and good reputation. For years, no mention was ever made about this peculiar sector of the national economy. In fact, as long as banks and stock markets succeeded in making money with their own particular methods, nobody knew of any difference between a real and an unreal economy.
"We Called Ourselves the Children of Malcolm" [Video]
Submitted on October 18, 2011This year marks the 45th year since the Black Panther Party was co-founded by Huey P. Newton and Bobby Seale in Oakland. It's About Time BPP is organizing events throughout the month in the San Francisco Bay Area, with the biggest events Oct. 21-23 (read the full schedule below). Featured here is a new video-interview with Billy X Jennings by Angola 3 News, entitled "We Called Ourselves the Children of Malcolm," featuring archival photos and more graphics including the photo exhibit "Women of the Black Panther Party and Beyond."
Interview with Juliet Belmas, former member of Direct Action and the Wimmin's Fire Brigade, about the Missing and Murdered Women and the sham Oppal Commission
Submitted on October 18, 2011about her growing up in Port Coquitlam near the Pickton Farm, Red Hot Video and Violence against Child and Women in general....
You can read also the booklet This is Not a Love Story : Armed Struggles against the Insitutions of Patriarchy by Ann Hansen and Juliet Belmas : http://zinelibrary.info/not-love-story-armed-struggle-against-institutions-patriarchy,
Occupy Toronto; Why I could not participate in a movement to restore democracy
Submitted on October 18, 2011This weekend, I had the opportunity to attend occupy Toronto. A group of students at the university I attend managed to get funding for a school bus and 18 of us set out to participate in this movement. I have been following Occupy Wall St for a while, and was thrilled to be participating in what I hoped would become a revolutionary movement.
Interview with Franklin López in the context of Occupy Vancouver
Submitted on October 18, 2011about his recent tour in Japan, his new project Stop the Flows, the upcoming screenings of his movie End:Civ in Montreal and more
What Do We Demand?
Submitted on October 18, 2011The Most Pressing Issues from Occupy Toronto
After a weeklong blackout by corporate media, news coverage of the Occupy Wall Street movement began with the resounding conclusion that no coherent message could be discerned from the sea of signs, slogans and banners in Zuccotti Park.
Peter Kelly, Mayor of Halifax, on Occupy Nova Scotia
Submitted on October 18, 2011Embattled Mayor Speaks to Liberators at Parade Square
HALIFAX - Mayor Peter Kelly made an unannounced visit to liberated Parade Square today. Please enjoy some audio from that visit.
ISSUE #2. 99: Dispatches for Occupy Toronto
Submitted on October 18, 2011straight from the Occupation site in downtown Toronto.
Issue # 2 of 99, a new broadsheet covering Occupy Toronto, building on momentum from our other broadsheet The Spoke. This issue features:
Files attached to this post:
Wall Street’s Second Occupation: The Rise of the NYPD's Homeland Security State
Submitted on October 18, 2011By Tom Engelhardt - October 17, 2011
In their present state, New York’s finest represent a local version of the way this country has been militarized to its bones in these last years and, since 9/11, transformed into a full-scale surveillance-intelligence-homeland-security state...This massive semi-militarized force we continue to call “the police” will, in the coming years, only grow...After all, they know but one way to operate.
Buckets of Fun!
Submitted on October 18, 2011Humanure Hacienda Ensures Occupy Nova Scotia Answers the Call of Nature, Naturally.
One of the most forward/backward thoughts to emerge out of Occupy Nova Scotia is the Humanure Hacienda. The so-named composting toilet ensures that the liberators of Parade Square are not only attempting to effect change, they're keeping the land fed with sweet, sweet, human by-product as they do so.
99% support in Hamilton Ontario
Submitted on October 18, 2011Hamilton has a strong contingent of activists ready to help the cause
99% Global Movement - Global Action against over 70 years of Corporate Greed
UK Police to Get Greater Repressive Powers After Riots
Submitted on October 18, 2011By Julie Hyland - 18 October 2011
Britain’s police are to be given significant new public order powers, according to proposals outlined in a Home Office consultation document. They include plans to declare specific places “no go areas”, with a police superintendent empowered to instruct people to leave “to prevent or address serious disorder”...Other measures under consideration include giving police powers to force people to remove face coverings and impose individual curfews.
Feminism needed at Occupy Edmonton
Submitted on October 18, 2011My experiences with the Occupy Protests are of Edmonton only and attending the General Assemblies on Saturday night at 9pm, Sunday at noon and Monday at 6pm.
Occupy Vancouver Day 3
Submitted on October 18, 2011On this brisk night in Coast Salish territory, an animated crowd met at Occupy Vancouver to decide weather or not to adopt the Occupy Wall St. inspired, 90% to reach consensus as opposed to 100%.
Occupy Lillooet!
Submitted on October 17, 2011On October 15th a solidarity demonstration was held on a small lawn inbetween the Post Office and Town Hall - one of the more lively areas of town - in Lillooet, BC located in unceded St'at'imc territory. About 35 people attended the gathering with a large banner and many signs. People accasionally stopped by for a chat or honked their horn in support as they drove by.
Radioactive Trinity: A Study of the Partnerships and Collaborations of Government, Industry and the University of Saskatchewan
Submitted on October 17, 2011By teaming up with the uranium industry (primarily CAMECO), and with strong inducements from the Saskatchewan Party Government, it appears that the University of Saskatchewan has become increasingly corporatized, enticed by short-term promises of lavish donations and directed funding.
Lies, Damn Lies, and NATO Claiming Control Across Libya
Submitted on October 17, 2011Libyans won't quit resisting until they're free from NATO's killing machine.
The Logic of Occupy Wall Street for Canada
Submitted on October 17, 2011By Justin Podur - October 16, 2011
When Tea Party politics got to Canada they helped elect Toronto's current mayor and helped give the Conservatives a boost to a majority government. The Occupy Wall Street movement's arrival in Canada could help discredit the austerity that the Conservative government will be putting forward in their next budget, and could help in resisting their plans to deepen inequalities and destroy what economic, social, and environmental fabric is left.
New York Bank Arrests Customers for Trying to Close Accounts
Submitted on October 17, 2011Monday, October 17, 2011 - Common Dreams
Customers of Citibank were arrested over the weekend after trying to close down their bank accounts...Twenty-three customers of Citibank allegedly found themselves under arrest after being locked in the bank...by security guards who even forced legitimate Citibank customers going about their daily business back into the bank.
U.S. Workers Three Times More Likely to Worry About Feeding Their Families Than Workers in China
Submitted on October 17, 2011By Patrick Martin - WSWS
American workers are now three times more likely than Chinese workers to lack the means of feeding their families, according to a startling new report from the Gallup organization. The polling group found that 19 percent of Americans worried about being able to feed themselves or their families, compared to only 6 percent of Chinese.
Rain On Our Parade
Submitted on October 17, 2011Under Rainy Skies, Sadly-Necessary March on Poverty Visits Liberated Parade Square
Day 3 of the liberation of Parade Square saw the heavens unleash a deluge of much-needed rain upon the occupiers. High winds sent unpegged tents sailing skywards, and sent liberators scampering for reinforcements of tent pegs, duct tape, and tarps.
Occupy Vancouver Day 2
Submitted on October 17, 2011Day 2 of Occupy Vancouver. The crowd diminished to about a quarter of the previous day, but even with the menacingly large presence of proctors of the 1%, the aroma of revolution is still in the air.
TMC - Live in Greece: Death and Taxes
Submitted on October 17, 2011Greek's Fight Against Global Investment Community for Health and Wealth
Rhodes Town, Greece - Sitting in a Greek café, one would be hard pressed to understand the disconnect between what is being written about Greece and what is actually happening on the ground.
America's Multi-Headed Monster
Submitted on October 17, 2011America's system is corrupted and broken.
Neocons Using "Anti-Semitic" Smear Against Occupy Wall Street
Submitted on October 17, 2011By MJ Rosenberg - 16 October 2011
Because utilizing anti-Semitism directly would not succeed in [the US] today, the reactionary defenders of the economic status quo are using the flip side of the coin: The fear of being labeled anti-Semitic. They are accusing Occupy Wall Street of anti-Semitism, relying on the old myth that Wall Street is Jewish and hence that opposition to Wall Street's agenda is just opposition to Jews.
23 Reasons Why We Should be Careful About Uncritically Accepting Western Views of the Syrian Insurrection
Submitted on October 17, 2011By JEREMY SALT - Counterpunch
As insurrection in Syria lurches towards civil war, the brakes need to be put on the propaganda pouring through the Western mainstream media and accepted uncritically by many who should know better. So here is a matrix of positions from which to argue about what is going on in this critical Middle Eastern country.
Snaps from Occupy Vancouver
Submitted on October 17, 2011U.S. Sends Special Forces Troops to Central Africa
Submitted on October 17, 2011By Eddie Haywood and Alex Lantier - 17 October 2011
US President Barack Obama has deployed roughly 100 special operations troops to central Africa, as part of an offensive targeting the leadership of the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA). The LRA is a rebel group that has engaged in fierce battles with the Ugandan government for over two decades.
Indian Act: Police State 1876 and 2011
Submitted on October 17, 2011By Robert Animikii Horton - October 17, 2011
For many generations, my family (and many First Nation families alike) have been all too familiar with the reality and implications of a Police State under the Indian Act enacted by the Parliament of Canada in 1876...Ironically prefaced as "An Act Respecting Indians", this legislation...was thrown upon us with zero consultation or involvement in the process and continues to manipulate, command, restrict and regulate our lives, families, and communities from the moment we are born until after we pass.
Discussions - October 15th 2011 - Occupy Montreal - www.makechangehappen.info
Submitted on October 16, 2011Toronto Occupation Starts Saturday in Select Theatres
Submitted on October 16, 2011By DAVID Ker THOMSON - Counterpunch Weekend Edition
The Toronto boys in blue are a suburban military elite, well armed, well funded, eager to be deployed against their traditional enemies in the city...and possessing enviably efficient public relations capabilities and a mandate as clear as a vendetta: take care of trouble in Toronto. They spent more than a billion dollars rounding up a thousand urban innocents last summer, then marched in massive jackbooted triumph through the city in the winter as an adoring press saluted them with sentimentalities and working-class people sang their praises.
Ongoing Israeli Human Rights Abuses
Submitted on October 16, 2011State-sponsored terror is official Israeli policy. So is collective punishment, apartheid, colonialism, premeditated war, torture, and filling prison cells illegally with Palestinians wanting to live free on their own land in their own country.
Living Around Chemical Valley: Recent Human Rights Issues
Submitted on October 16, 2011Why the B.C. Missing Women's Commission of Inquiry Fails
Submitted on October 16, 2011By Harsha Walia - October 11, 2011
The very same grassroots community of women who have been advocating for a public inquiry into the deaths and disappearances of women in the Downtown Eastside for over two decades are now denouncing the B.C. Missing Women's Commission of Inquiry as an insult to the women of this Vancouver community..."This inquiry has a responsibility to highlight those systemic injustices that allowed the unimaginable deaths and disappearances of so many women...[T]his sham inquiry is flawed and unjust. We cannot endorse it..."
Why the Elites Are in Trouble
Submitted on October 16, 2011By Chris Hedges - October 9, 2011
[The elites] cannot envision a day when they will not be in charge of our lives. The elites believe...that globalization and unfettered capitalism are natural law...What the elites fail to realize is that rebellion will not stop until the corporate state is extinguished. It will not stop until there is an end to the corporate abuse of the poor, the working class, the elderly, the sick, children, those being slaughtered in our imperial wars and tortured in our black sites.
Cops and Lovers
Submitted on October 16, 2011The Liberators of Parade Square were visited this morning by a large contingent of parade-dressed police of various affiliations. The cops were paying their annual homage to the 22 peace officers who have locally fallen in the line of duty, the earliest of which appears to have been in 1861.
“We are the 99 percent, and so are you”
Submitted on October 16, 2011Occupy Ottawa hits the streets after setting up camp
A few hundred people chanted and marched through the downtown core on Oct. 16 as “Occupy” Ottawa took to the streets. The direct action was organized by the people’s assembly and coincided with the occupation of Confederation Park on Oct.
Israeli/Palestinian Prisoner Swap
Submitted on October 16, 2011Thousands of Palestinian political prisoners remain in Israeli prisons.
Cops For Sale: The New Praetorian Guard
Submitted on October 16, 2011By GEORGE OCHENSKI - October 14-16, 2011
Alarms went off when it was revealed that the armed forces of the United States were using increasing numbers of private contractors to provide everything from transportation to security in war zones around the globe...Now, the war has come home as wealthy private corporations hire not only security firms, but also public law enforcement officers to ensure that the riff-raff...stay out of the way of their money-making schemes and political manipulations.
Occupiers Not Budging in Halifax
Submitted on October 16, 2011Many occupiers new to activism but firm in their resolve
Roger Forest is standing firm in Parade Square in Halifax. As the second day of Occupy Nova Scotia draws to a close, he's not budging - he's barely moving a muscle. In fact, when I first see Forest amongst the tents and protest signs, I think he's a statue.
Growing Strike Wave in Greece
Submitted on October 16, 2011By Robert Stevens - 15 October 2011
Strikes and protests escalated throughout Greece this week as workers protested against the austerity programme of the social democratic PASOK government of Prime Minister George Papandreou...The strikes are taking place ahead of a two-day general strike slated for this coming Wednesday and Thursday.
The Iranian “Plot”
Submitted on October 16, 2011By ALEXANDER COCKBURN - Counterpunch Weekend Edition
Even by the forgiving standards of American credulity, the supposed Iranian plot to assassinate the Saudi Ambassador to the US is spectacularly ludicrous...If even one US senator died in a terrorist bombing in Washington, if anything larger than a firecracker detonated outside the Israeli embassy, US bombers would be raining high explosives on Iranian targets within 24 hours. Why would Iran want to invite such a response?
12 Most Absurd Laws Used to Stifle the U.S. Occupy Wall Street Movement
Submitted on October 16, 2011By Rania Khalek - October 14, 2011
As Occupy Wall Street protests spring up in cities across the country, authorities are thinking up creative ways to contain this peaceful and inspiring uprising...[T]here is no shortage of justifications and rationales behind the constantly evolving schemes being implemented to destroy the spirit of Occupy Wall Street. Here are 12 desperate and unsuccessful measures the authorities are using to discourage, deter and crack down on peaceful protests.
Occupy Wall Street: The Corporate Canadian Connection
Submitted on October 16, 2011By Gwalgen Dent - Toronto Media Co-op
With Occupy Wall Street protesters looking like they will stand to live another day, focus has begun to shift on the company that recently tried to evict them: Brookfield Properties...Brookfield is actually a subsidiary...[of] Brookefield Asset Management, a company that is headquartered in Brookfield Place in downtown Toronto.
Tout est là
Submitted on October 16, 2011Pour tous ceux qui se demandent encore quelles sont les raisons derrière l'occupation des bourses du monde, voici une image qui parle d'elle-même..
Tout est là.
Sous la masse gigantesque du gratte-ciel de la bourse de Montréal, placé humblement contre un mur d'une bouche de métro, se trouve un petit coffre en plastique, pour recueillir des denrées alimentaires et autres, pour les plus démunis.
Occupons Montréal: première journée
Submitted on October 16, 2011Decolonize Vancouver Day 1
Submitted on October 15, 2011VANCOUVER - More than 5,000 circled the Vancouver Art Gallery today to join the worldwide day of protest against corporate greed. Tents, food, toilets and first aid are set up on the grounds of the gallery for the long haul and so far Vancouver Police have backed off.
Occupy Wall Street Movement Spreads to Ottawa
Submitted on October 15, 2011Hundreds demonstrate locally in global day of action
A large crowd gathered at Confederation Park in Ottawa on Saturday in solidarity with the Occupy Wall Street movement that has spread to dozens of cities around the world. The “Occupy” Ottawa movement held a general assembly to coincide with a global day of action on Oct. 15.
Occupy Toronto: Linking the Philippines and Canada
Submitted on October 15, 2011Yes I am Canadian. Yes I am Filipino. And this means that I, and we, bear responsibility for both sides of our identity.
99. Dispatches from Occupy Toronto. Issue 1.
Submitted on October 15, 2011Toronto Media Coop Reports from the Occupy Toronto Protests
Issue # 1 of 99, a new broadsheet covering Occupy Toronto, building on momentum from our other broadsheet The Spoke. This issue features:
Grassroots movement Occupies Everywhere, by Justin Saunders
In the Shadow of the G20 by Mick Sweetman
Preparing to Occupy by Mairin Piccinin
Fighting Ford with People Power by Megan Kinch
Files attached to this post:
"We Want The Whole Damn Bakery"
Submitted on October 15, 2011Participants of Occupy Nova Scotia say they want more than a small piece of the pie
As of 11am Atlantic Standard Time, Grand Parade Square, in Halifax, Nova Scotia, has been officially occupied. Hundreds of supporters, from all walks of life, gathered on a flawless fall day to shuck off the shackles of apathy, and revel in the camaraderie and solidarity which seems to stem from exhaustion with business-as-usual affairs.
Snapshots of Occupy Nova Scotia, Day 1
Submitted on October 15, 2011Two hundred fifty people occupied Grand Parade Square in Halifax today to take part in the Occupy Together movement, which officially launched today in occupation and decolonization events across Canada.
Occupy Wall Street: The Corporate Canadian Connection
Submitted on October 15, 2011With Occupy Wall Street protesters looking like they will stand to live another day, focus has begun to shift on the company that recently tried to evict them: Brookfield Properties.
Famine Threatening Millions in North Korea
Submitted on October 15, 2011By Will Morrow - WSWS
Successive US administrations have maintained sanctions on North Korea since the end of the Korean War in 1953, and exploited Pyongyang’s nuclear programs as the pretext to impose new ones. Over the past two decades, the nuclear issue has been used to pursue a two-track policy — either bring about the economic and political collapse of the North Korean regime, or force it to the negotiating table on American terms...The US and its allies are using food as a means to effectively starve North Korea into submission.
Pushing the Envelope for Confrontation with Iran
Submitted on October 15, 2011The business of America is war and grand theft.
In Response to Fresh Tory Attack, Union Scuppers Air Canada Strike
Submitted on October 15, 2011By Carl Bronski - 14 October 2011
The Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) abruptly rescinded its strike authorization for 6,800 Air Canada flight attendants Wednesday afternoon, only hours before the flight attendants were to walk off the job...[T]he social messaging boards of the flight attendants have been chock-a-block with bitter denunciations of the union leadership for betraying their interests.
A Right Derived From Might: The Real Story of How Israel Was Created
Submitted on October 15, 2011By ALISON WEIR - October 11, 2011
The common representation of Israel’s birth is that the UN created Israel, that the world was in favor of this move, and that the US governmental establishment supported it. All these assumptions are demonstrably incorrect...[It was] armed aggression, and the ethnic cleansing of at least three-quarters of a million indigenous Palestinians, that created the Jewish state on land that had been 95 per cent non-Jewish prior to Zionist immigration and that even after years of immigration remained 70 per cent non-Jewish.
Job Action in Flight
Submitted on October 15, 2011Airport Labour-Actions Continue
With strikes, threats of back to work legislation, obscure labour board tactics and work-to-rule campaigns, airports have become ground zero for labour actions in the past month.
Shale Gas and the Future of Canada's Chemical Valley
Submitted on October 15, 2011Toban Black on the Media Co-op
An audio interview with Zak Nicholls, a human rights activist who lives in Sarnia, Ontario.
Occupy Wall Street, Not Palestine!
Submitted on October 15, 2011By Palestinian BDS National Committee - October 14, 2011
The Palestinian Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions National Committee (BNC)...is proud to stand in solidarity with the movements struggling for a new world based on democracy, human rights and economic justice. From New York to Athens, from Madrid to Santiago, from Bahrain to Rome, these huge mobilizations provide a much needed reminder of something that Palestinians have always known – that another world, a dignifying one, is possible and ordinary people can create it.
Occupy Wall Street: People Power vs. the Police State
Submitted on October 15, 2011By Nick Turse - AlterNet
The periphery of Liberty Plaza...resembles an armed camp with surveillance equipment, police vehicles, armed officers, and metal barricades ringing a city square filled with unarmed activists, who openly advocate non-violence.The response is as disproportionate as it is superfluous, a point driven home by the utter apathy displayed by many of the security forces on the scene…today.
Interview with Bill Lewis, Opening Speaker at Occupy Nova Scotia
Submitted on October 15, 2011On the Eve of Occupy Nova Scotia, We Talk to an Elder Statesmen.
In a few hours, Bill Lewis will provide the opening address to the Occupy Nova Scotia movement in Parade Square, Halifax. Lewis, a Mig'maw elder, has been involved with solidarity movements for decades.
Yesterday, HMC had the good fortune to have a quick chat with Lewis over a cup of blueberry tea.
Ohlone Indigenous Delegation at Occupy/Decolonize Oakland
Submitted on October 14, 2011Occupy The Hood: Interview with Malik Rahsaan
Submitted on October 14, 2011Occupy the Hood is an initiative of Malik Rahsaan in New York and Ife Johari Uhuru in Detroit. OTH came together to respond to the lack of people of color, especially African Americans and Hispanics, at Occupy Wall Street. Rahsaan tells of how the movement was growing and that it could have an impact, but felt that it was leaving certain communities behind.
Beating Up on Iran
Submitted on October 14, 2011The media is using a fake terror plot to vilify Iran.
Washington and Iran: The Reckless Policy of Provocation
Submitted on October 14, 2011By Bill Van Auken - WSWS
After a decade of military debacles in Afghanistan and Iraq, Washington is now threatening to launch a new war against the country that lies between them, Iran...This turn to war is driven by both the strategic failures of Washington’s previous adventures, and the ever-sharpening contradictions of crisis-ridden American capitalism. A war against Iran would prove a far bloodier and more catastrophic enterprise than those that preceded it.
Abbas, UN Membership and Peace Talks
Submitted on October 14, 2011Washington and Israel are pulling out all the stops to deny Palestinians their rights.
FBI Account of "Terror Plot" Suggests Sting Operation
Submitted on October 14, 2011By Gareth Porter - October 14th, 2011
While the administration of Barack Obama vows to hold the Iranian government “accountable” for the alleged plot to assassinate the Saudi ambassador in Washington, the legal document...provides multiple indications that it was mainly the result of an FBI “sting” operation...Although the legal document...implicates Iranian-American Manssor Arbabsiar and his cousin Ali Gholam Shakuri...in a plan to assassinate [the] Saudi Arabian Ambassador...it also suggests that the idea originated with and was strongly pushed by an undercover DEA informant, at the direction of the FBI.
Media Co-op Occupy!
Submitted on October 14, 2011A new platform for covering Occupy actions across Canada
Introducing: http://mediacoop.ca/occupy
The Media Co-op has launched a platform to cover Occupy actions across Canada.
From Wall Street to Ottawa:
Submitted on October 14, 2011“Occupy” movement makes final preparations for Oct. 15
In the spirit of the Occupy Wall Street movement, hundreds of Ottawa residents are preparing to descend on Confederation Park at noon on Oct. 15 to hold a people’s assembly, according to a press release issued by the Occupy Ottawa Media Division.
Police Reign of Terror Intensifies at Los Angeles County Jail
Submitted on October 14, 2011By Alan Gilman - 14 October 2011
Recent independent eyewitness testimony reveals that the Los Angeles County Jail...continues to be plagued by brutal assaults upon its inmates by the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, which operates the jail...[LA County Sheriff's] Deputies are usually initially assigned to jail duty when they join the department. There they are immersed in a culture of sadistic and arbitrary treatment of prisoners, in order to anesthetize them to any compunctions they might have about using force.
Iran Falsely Charged with Fake Terror Plot
Submitted on October 14, 2011Since Iran's 1979 revolution and US hostage crisis, Washington's been spoiling for a fight.
An Insidious Threat to the Occupy Movement
Submitted on October 14, 2011By ISMAEL HOSSEIN-ZADEH - October 14-16, 2011
The threat I am referring to is not that of being pepper-sprayed, arrested, beaten or imprisoned...I am referring to the threat of...co-optation, posed by the Democratic Party and union officials. In light of their unsavory record of undermining the revolutionary energy of social movements, projections of sympathy for the anti-Wall Street protesters by the White House, the Democratic Party officials and union leaders can be viewed only with suspicion.
Émission en direct: Occupons Montréal/Live Broadcast: Occupy Montreal
Submitted on October 14, 2011Time: Saturday, October 15 · 2:00pm - 4:00pm
Location: Square-Victoria
**Français suit**
* CKUT radio broadcast at Occupy Montreal: tune-in for a live from the streets broadcastfrom CKUT Radio & the Montreal Media Co-op on Montreal's people powered radio station, 90.3FM.
------------------------------
Document reveal Canadian Forces Intelligence on First Nations Communities
Submitted on October 14, 2011The following documents show intelligence reports on First Nations protests and groups compiled by the Canadian Forces National Counter Intelligence Unit (CFNCIU).
Major Media Liars Report Fake NATO Victories
Submitted on October 14, 2011Reported NATO Libyan and Afghan victories are fake.
Acknowledgement of Occupations on Occupied Land is Essential
Submitted on October 14, 2011By Harsha Walia - October 14, 2011
...[T]he word Occupy has understandably ignited criticism from Indigenous people. While occupations are commonly associated with specific targets...Occupy Vancouver (or any other city) has a deeply colonialist implication...[I]t erases the brutal history of occupation and genocide of Indigenous peoples that settler societies have been built on. This is not simply a rhetorical or fringe point; it is a profound and indisputable matter of fact that this land is in fact already occupied.
TMC - Live in Greece: Athens in Photos
Submitted on October 14, 2011Note: Many of the posters depicted were photographed in a one block radius in Athen's Exarcheia district and can found on almost every street. Exarcheia is well known as an anarchist neighbourhood. Bombing and arson of government and business locations throughout Athens is often thought to originate from its residents.
Fighting for Soul of the American Dream
Submitted on October 13, 2011Republics are nations where heads of state aren't monarchs or despots in which citizens elect officials to represent them.
A Misguided War: Afghanistan 10 Years On
Submitted on October 13, 2011By RAMZY BAROUD - October 13, 2011
“Ten years ago the U.S. and NATO invaded my country under the fake banners of women’s rights, human rights, and democracy. But after a decade, Afghanistan still remains the most uncivil, most corrupt, and most war-torn country in the world. The consequences of the so-called war on terror has only been more bloodshed, crimes, barbarism, human rights and women’s rights violations, which has doubled the miseries and sorrows of our people.”
- Former Afghan MP and human rights activist Malalai Joya
The Fruits of Austerity: Greece's Health Care System Faces Collapse
Submitted on October 13, 2011By Robert Stevens - 13 October 2011
The austerity measures being forced onto the Greek population by the ruling social democratic PASOK government are literally killing people...Many adults have been thrown out of work and into debt, while a whole generation of youth are unable to find any stable, decent employment. This is leading to an increase in deaths.
#OccupyTogether in the Age of Conspiracy
Submitted on October 13, 2011By Syed Hussan - October 13, 2011
#Occupy movements, the government and police are not your friends. Laws do not exist to protect you, they exist to control you. The only thing that stops the police from attacking, arresting and locking everyone up is the balance of social forces. If you are organized and prepared to defend yourself, if there are thousands of people with you, and the public opinion to match, you may just stay free(er) for a day longer. If not, expect immense, instant repression.
U.S. Launches "Civil Rights" Probe at Columbia University as Zionist Censorship and Smears Intensify
Submitted on October 13, 2011By Ali Abunimah - October 5, 2011
A complaint by a professor at Columbia University...has resulted in the US Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) opening an investigation into the university...The civil rights complaint is part of a growing pattern of such actions by Zionist groups...to use civil rights laws to suppress campus criticism...of Israel’s human rights crimes, and to intimidate faculty and students and slander those who dare to teach or undertake activities about Palestinian rights as “anti-Semites.”
Canada Pursues U.S.-Style Security and Foreign Policy
Submitted on October 13, 2011By Dana Gabriel
While in the past Canada has exercised a more independent foreign policy, it has now succumbed to the imperialistic aspirations of the U.S. and NATO. The war in Afghanistan and the continued bombing in Libya have demonstrated Canada’s willingness to use military force to advance foreign policy. Under the influence of a declining Anglo-American Empire, Canada has shed its peacekeeping image in favor of a more aggressive and militaristic doctrine.
Bizarre Iranian “Plot” Doesn’t Add Up
Submitted on October 13, 2011By PATRICK COCKBURN - Counterpunch
The claim that Iran employed a used-car salesman with a conviction for cheque fraud to hire Mexican gangsters to assassinate the Saudi ambassador in Washington goes against all that is known of Iran’s highly sophisticated intelligence service.
U.S. Steps Up Sanctions and Threats Against Iran Over Alleged Terror Plot
Submitted on October 13, 2011By Bill Van Auken - WSWS
The White House announced Wednesday that it is imposing a new round of economic sanctions against Iran, while Vice President Joseph Biden warned that “nothing has been taken off the table” in regard to Washington’s response to an alleged plot to assassinate the Saudi ambassador in Washington, suggesting the possibility of military strikes.
Troubled Eurozone Finance Capital
Submitted on October 13, 2011Greece died months ago. Default is certain. Only its obituary hasn't appeared. Six possible sovereign defaults loom if contagion spreads out of control.
Canada's Military Still Fighting Indians Today
Submitted on October 13, 2011By Pamela Palmater - October 13, 2011
We wanted to maintain our connections to the land and Canada wanted to assimilate us. When we exercise our "Canadian" right to peaceful assembly and protest, Canada sends in the military to take us down. It seems that no matter what we do, Canada's answer always seems to be to "get rid of the Indian problem" and it does so by very strategic military means.
From NYC: “Occupy Wall Street Has No Agenda” Is an Alibi for Apathy
Submitted on October 13, 2011Planning Underway for Occupy Toronto
Submitted on October 12, 2011On Oct 15th Occupy Toronto will kick off its occupation of the city’s financial district. Are they prepared? That’s the question many have been asking since the group’s first general assembly meeting on Oct 7th, demonstrated the challenge of turning an idealistic vision into coherent action.
The Price of Torching Mosques
Submitted on October 12, 2011By JONATHAN COOK - October 12, 2011
Netanyahu and the settlers hope to subdue Palestinians with the establishment of a Greater Israel. But as the conflagration of mosques suggests, they may ultimately achieve the opposite...Israel may yet unleash a force too powerful to control. The price tag – this time demanded by Palestinians – will be high indeed for the Jewish supremacists.
Obama's Depression
Submitted on October 12, 2011By bailing out too-big-to-fail banks and waging multiple imperial wars, Obama has intensified social misery.
The “Outraged”: An Outrage Which Thrives on Illusions About Crisis, Democracy and the Market Economy
Submitted on October 12, 2011What makes the “outraged” think that by referring to themselves as ordinary people they have acquired something like an entitlement, a right that the authorities show them some consideration? And are the authorities really committing a violation if they redefine what it is to be an ordinary person? Because that is what is happening and that is what the “outraged” refuse to realize.
Occupy Wall Street: Beware of Labor Leaders Bearing Gifts
Submitted on October 12, 2011By Kim Scipes - October 12, 2011
Unions can be used by union leaders to advance their own organizational interests as defined by their elected officers...even when it screws over other working people. The tendency for this increases as one goes “up” organizational hierarchies, from local union, to regional level, to national/international level...Occupy Wall Street needs to recognize these things before wholeheartedly embracing the national/international union leadership, no matter how many gifts they bring.
Obama Administration Alleges Iranian Terrorist Plot
Submitted on October 12, 2011By Peter Symonds - WSWS
Revelations by US Attorney General Eric Holder yesterday afternoon of an alleged Iranian plot to assassinate the Saudi ambassador have prompted calls in the American media for retaliation against Iran...The Iranian government has emphatically denied any involvement in the alleged plot...“The US government and the CIA have very good experience in making up film scripts...It appears that this new scenario is for diverting the US public opinion from internal crises.”
The Media Co-op is Hiring: Halifax Editor
Submitted on October 12, 2011The Media Co-op is hiring!
We're looking for a local editor to co-ordinate coverage and work with contributors and Media Co-op members in Halifax.
Žižek: Don't be Afraid to Really Want What You Desire
Submitted on October 11, 2011Renowned theorist speaks at Occupy Wall Street
Slavoj Žižek, the theorist who has made a name for himself through animated, sometimes entertaining, always pertinent, cultural critiques, spoke at Occupy Wall Street last Sunday. He was enthusiastic and supportive, telling the several hundred listeners that he saw them as breaking through the lies and misrepresentations of current political leaders and mainstream media,
Israeli-Style Peace and Justice
Submitted on October 11, 2011Israel is a repressive rogue state. Netanyahu bombs Gaza and attacks fishermen while talking peace. On October 10, without provocation, Israeli jets bombed northern Gaza.
5 Conservative Economic Myths Occupy Wall Street Is Helping Bust
Submitted on October 11, 2011By Dave Johnson - October 10, 2011
The uncontested repetition of free-market slogans led many to a bland acceptance that there was no alternative. Many of us even incorporated the concepts into our own thinking. Others seemed to accept the cutbacks, the fees, the scams, the disappointments and the obviously false statements as the way things are...Occupy Wall Street has changed all that. You can take that stuff and stuff it, they said.
Occupy Everywhere...And? Problems and Possibilities
Submitted on October 11, 2011My initial reaction to the occupation of Wall Street was generally positive. But soon that feeling gave way to doubt and unease. I still find much hope in so many people taking to the streets but I wonder what is going on?
Living around Chemical Valley: Recent human rights issues
Submitted on October 11, 2011In this recording, Zak Nicholls (of S.H.A.M.E.) mainly speaks about:
- Responding to pollution around the "Clean Harbors" hazardous waste facility
"If the South Would Have Won"
Submitted on October 11, 2011By Dave Zirin - October 11, 2011
[Football] broadcasts are...pointedly diverse as over-caffeinated talking heads come in all colors...The [National Football League]...wants the disposable income of one particularly thorny demographic: your right-wing, gun-toting, Palin-loving, Southern football fans. That’s why ESPN inexplicably hired Rush Limbaugh in 2003 to be part of their NFL pre-game team.
Shale gas and the future of Chemical Valley
Submitted on October 11, 2011Zak Nicholls is a human rights activist who lives in Sarnia, Ontario, Canada.
Occupy: A challenge to the ego
Submitted on October 11, 2011This is re-posted from the Occupy Vancouver facecrack page. Says it way better than I can. Consider this my personal request to everyone I know to reflect a bit about the situation before hitting send. Must say I am a disappointed in much of what I have been reading on VMC so far.
Unlawful Access: the coming Canadian surveillance state
Submitted on October 11, 2011Warrantless wiretapping may be coming to Canada. In May 2011, Canada's Conservative government promised that, if re-elected with a majority, they would quickly pass legislation containing surveillance measures known as LAWFUL ACCESS.
Musings of a Self-Hating Jew
Submitted on October 11, 2011By SAUL LANDAU - October 11, 2011
Jews like me and my friends throughout the western world do not want to migrate to the Promised Land...We don’t want to live amidst Israeli settlers, many of them self-righteous and very superior...and oblivious to or even proud of what they’ve done to Palestinians.
Financial Giants Put New York City Cops On Their Payroll
Submitted on October 11, 2011By PAM MARTENS - Counterpunch
If you’re a Wall Street behemoth, there are endless opportunities to privatize profits and socialize losses beyond collecting trillions of dollars in bailouts from taxpayers. One of the ingenious methods...[is] called the Paid Detail Unit and it allows the New York Stock Exchange and Wall Street corporations...to order up a flank of New York’s finest...The corporations pay an average of $37 an hour...for a member of the NYPD, with gun, handcuffs and the ability to arrest.
GroundWire Oct 9th Edition
Submitted on October 11, 2011Safe injection at InSite, Rally against Asbestos Export and lockout at SFU
GroundWire Community Radio News: Oct. 9th | Rally against Asbestos export, SFU lockout and Safe Injection at InSite.
This week's edition was produced at the CFRU in Guelph, Ontario.
http://ncra.dnsalias.com/ groundwire/
The Headlines
European Conference Against Austerity Seeks to Rescue Capitalism
Submitted on October 11, 2011By Julie Hyland - WSWS
The European Conference Against Austerity in London last month was advanced as a means of “coordinating resistance” to the social impoverishment being implemented by governments across Europe, the International Monetary Fund and the European Union...In reality, the conference underscored how the various “activist” networks and the petty bourgeois ex-left groups have become completely integrated into the political structures of bourgeois rule.
Hotel Workers rising - Hilton Metrotown Rally for Respect
Submitted on October 11, 2011(Un)Ethical Oil’s Alleged Concern For Women
Submitted on October 10, 2011Dominant Finance Capital Institutions
Submitted on October 10, 2011The 2 most powerful finance capital institutions few people have ever heard of.
Julian Assange Leads Protest Against Afghanistan War in London
Submitted on October 10, 2011Sunday, October 9, 2011 - Common Dreams
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange and socialite Jemima Khan led a protest in London Saturday against the war in Afghanistan, 10 years after the United States and Britain went to war against the Taliban...Organizers [from] the Stop The War Coalition claimed 5,000 people attended the protest in central London's historic Trafalgar Square.
Crackdown in Spain
Submitted on October 10, 2011By PETER GELDERLOOS - October 10, 2011
Not only were the police and media caught flat-footed in carrying out and justifying the arrests...the situation was stacked against them. Radicals are harder to isolate in today’s political climate...Within the neighborhood assemblies, workplace struggles, and occupations of the hospitals facing cutbacks or closure...Anarchists and other radicals who were once easy to isolate now form an integral part of new networks of neighbors and coworkers acting together in solidarity.
Social Justice Occupations Head Everywhere
Submitted on October 10, 2011Ordinary people across the Middle East, Europe and America are fed up and want long denied social justice.
Do Developers Control Vancouver City Hall?
Submitted on October 10, 2011By David P Ball - rabble.ca
How is it that so many upscale condominium developments are getting sped through city hall -- particularly when a lack of affordable housing continues to be a crisis in this city, and prices rise with each new development?
The Republicans and Occupy Wall Street
Submitted on October 10, 2011By ALAN FARAGO - October 10, 2011
The [Republican] response to Occupy Wall Street recalls the way the 1960′s protests against the Vietnam War energized American conservatives. Until the demonstrations by assorted students and labor and political activists...the right wing had been defined by racism...and the stigma of the John Birch Society...The counter-response came from the US Chamber of Commerce and wealthy American industrialists. They invented a political machine that now, nearly half a century later, is the most successful in US history.
NATO Brussels Summit Claims Successful Afghan and Libyan Campaigns
Submitted on October 10, 2011NATO won't admit that both wars are lost or being lost.
Occupy Protesters Unfocused? My Ass!
Submitted on October 10, 2011The OCCUPY protesters are expressing an emotional response, an appropriate emotional response. Their detractors who would paint them as bongo playing, naked hippies don't have much political memory.
Happy Genocide Day!
Submitted on October 10, 2011By Thom Hartman - October 11, 2011
...[T]he Taino turned out not to be particularly good workers in the plantations that the Spaniards...established on Hispaniola: they resented their lands and children being taken, and attempted to fight back against the invaders...Columbus sought to impose discipline on them. For even a minor offense, an Indian's nose or ear was cut off...Columbus attacked them with dogs, skewered them with pikes, and shot them...Eventually, Columbus...simply resorted to wiping out the Taino altogether.
Calling BS on the Media: Chris Hedges Lays the Boots to CBC's Lang-O'Leary Exchage
Submitted on October 10, 2011Pulitzer-prize winning journalist, author and war correspondent, Chris Hedges takes on CBC's Lang amd O'Leary exchange. O'Leary, is a regular on CBC's entrepenurial show Dragon's Den.
"We have to struggle this monster to the ground"
Submitted on October 10, 2011Rev. Billy at Occupy Wall Street
Since 1999, Rev. Billy and the Church of Earthalujah! have been performing creative, theatrical interventions against consumerism, often invading stores and malls to preach the gospel of reducing our consumer imprint.
Decolonize Vancouver: Potential Highs and Lows
Submitted on October 9, 2011I've never been a huge fan of large crowds in small rooms.
On Saturday 08 October 2011, I found myself in the basement of the W2 Media Cafe, feeling not exceptional, waiting for the forum to begin on the upcoming Occupy Vancouver action.
A large camera was pointed at my face, with some guy with a leer looking at me through its finder.
Making Sense of Syria
Submitted on October 9, 2011Washington, Israel, France and Britain are behind the externally generated insurgency in Syria.
New York Republican Calls Occupy Wall Street Protesters "Anarchists" and "Anti-American"
Submitted on October 9, 2011By David Freedlander - October 7, 2011
Long Island [New York] Republican Congressman Peter King blasted the Occupy Wall Street protesters as anti-American...on a right-wing talk show...“We have to be careful not to allow this to get any legitimacy...I’m taking this seriously in that I’m old enough to remember what happened in the 1960s when the left-wing took to the streets...and it ended up shaping policy. We can’t allow that to happen.”
Victims' Families Question Cop Shootings in Australia
Submitted on October 9, 2011By Mike Head - 8 October 2011
Given the recurring pattern of official justifications by the top echelons of the police force, the shootings cannot be explained as isolated responses by individual officers. Instead, they point to an institutionalized resort to lethal force, on the pretext that police officers feared for their own safety. A shoot to kill mentality is being inculcated, where officers open fire with scant regard for the lives of their victims or public safety.
Six Questions for Leftists
Submitted on October 9, 2011By Justin Podur - October 09, 2011
Leftists don't spend enough time or energy working on important strategic questions. If we could resolve a handful of these, even tentatively, and try out some solutions, we would be far more successful. Here are six from my list of the most important questions, as well as my answers, which by their very incompleteness and inadequacy should suggest that more people should work on them.
Activists and Health Workers Join "Block the Bridge, Block the Bill" Demonstration Against Destruction of Health Care in Britain
Submitted on October 9, 2011By Matthew Taylor - Sunday 9 October 2011
More than 2,000 people staged a sit-down protest on Westminster Bridge from 1pm on Sunday to highlight the health and social care bill, which is due to go before the House of Lords this week..."We are occupying the bridge because the bill would be bad for the [National Health Service], bad for patients and bad for society."
Class action lawsuit launched over Brooklyn Bridge Arrests
Submitted on October 9, 2011Legal action seeks compensation and banning of 'kettling' tactics in New York
On October 1st, 700 people were detained and arrested by New York City Police when a march from Occupy Wall Street attempted to cross rooklyn bridge. Protesters allege that police allowed them to take the bridge, before cutting them off at either end and not allowing them to leave.
"Remix the Myth for a New Reality"
Submitted on October 9, 2011Kanene Holder on race, protest and the #OccupyWallStreet movement
For over 20 days, Occupy Wall Street has been holding down Liberty Square in the heart of Wall Street. The movement has prided itself on developing tools for direct democracy, exemplified by the daily general assemblies where hundreds come together to discuss the priorities, goals and actions of the group.
Get the Cops on Our Side?
Submitted on October 8, 2011Disinformation Countered at Occupy Vancouver Assembly
At a point a little over an hour into the Occupy Vancouver meeting held in the Woodwards atrium on the afternoon of Saturday 8 Oct 2011, a young woman expressed concern over a leaflet that had been distributed. [A pdf scan of her marked-up leaflet is provided with this story.]
Files attached to this post:
Occupy Wall Street: "It has liberated peoples' imaginations"
Submitted on October 8, 2011Interview with Arun Gupta, co-creator of the Occupied Wall Street Journal
The second issue of the Occupied Wall Street Journal came off the presses this morning. As it was unloaded from the truck to Liberty Plaza, people thronged around to read the latest news published for and by some of the occupiers.
Stop the Machine Occupies Washington
Submitted on October 8, 2011Committed activists want social justice and America's imperial wars ended.
Crumbling Canadian Sovereignty
Submitted on October 8, 2011Canada’s sovereignty is being insulted at breakneck speed. The corporate oligarchy is what is inevitably responsible for forced inoculation legislation in our countries, and maybe our complacency is also to blame. These insane laws, by the way, never come as a shock to those who are aware of the efforts that have been made to combine Canada, USA, and Mexico into one country and that agenda’s underlying motivation to further consolidate power into one global government.
Anti-Defamation League Assails Palestinian UN Membership
Submitted on October 8, 2011ADL has always been a racist Jewish supremacist organization.
15 Years of Giving Voice to Women and Transgender Prisoners in California
Submitted on October 8, 2011An interview with Diana Block, Pam Faden, and Dierdre Wilson -- three members of the California Coalition for Women Prisoners, which is celebrating its 15th year with an event in San Francisco on Friday Oct. 14.
This Was Our Playground
Submitted on October 8, 2011In which we condemn 45 years of unabated dumping at Boat Harbour.
We are looking at a rushing torrent of bubbling, dark brown liquid. It gushes out of the mouth of a 2.5 metre pipe. The flow expels hundreds of litres of effluent waste per second. Foul foam, crust, and spray, lines the banks of a canal that contains the noxious outflow.
While Wall Street Quakes, Greece’s Fire Still Burns Bright
Submitted on October 8, 2011By Michelle Chen - Friday, October 7, 2011
While we may be inspired to see a leaderless mass movement finally crystallizing in U.S. cities, the American occupations still can't hold a candle to the fire raging across Greece...This past week, demonstrators again unleashed their rage across the tiny Mediterranean republic, blocking government agencies and clashing with government thugs amid plumes of tear gas, with assorted spectacles like trying to burn a European Union flag in effigy.
Are You "Mentally Ill"? According to Big Pharma, If You Drink Too Much You Are
Submitted on October 8, 2011By Martha Rosenberg - Dissident Voice
...Pharma’s stratagems to grow its “mentally ill” franchise are well known. People with occasional anxiety are really depressed, then bipolar, then suffering from an assortment of amorphous “spectrum” diseases...with no known cause, no cure, no diagnostic tests and no turnoff valve on the pharmacy spigot...The situation is even worse for children because they’re given drugs against their will by parents, teachers and doctors.
Occupied by Police?
Submitted on October 8, 2011October 8, 2011 - Vancouver Media Co-op
Earlier today a comrade alerted me that the Occupy Vancouver organizers have contacted the Vancouver Police to "to make sure we can work together"...As an activist who has faced police repression, [this] news deeply disturbed me...By inviting the police to your demonstration you are inviting the enemy.
Orange Isn't Red: On the Logic of Radicalizing Reformist Organizations
Submitted on October 7, 2011By Alan Wai Kiat Tang - Common Cause
On September 3 2011, the Ontario New Democratic Party (ONDP) rescinded the candidacy of Barry Weisleder, who had won the provincial nomination for the riding of Thornhill...Much to the surprise of the NDP establishment, Weisleder defeated their preferred candidate; responding to this unexpected turn of events, the party brass decided to overrule the results of the nomination process...This is not the first time the NDP leadership has intervened to quash gains made by radicals working within the party's rank-and-file...
New York City Cops Attack Anti-Wall Street Protesters [Video]
Submitted on October 7, 2011By David DeGraw - October 07, 2011
["New York Police] used pepper spray, batons, and brute force to move protesters away from the entrance to Wall Street after many tried to push through police barricades. Rumors immediately circulated that police provocateurs dressed as protesters were to blame for the incident."
Parliament Hill XL Pipeline Demonstration is "Civil Obedience"
Submitted on October 7, 2011Last week’s action at Parliament Hill represents a mockery of the proud tradition of civil disobedience. The “civil disobedient” asked...for permission to be arrested without defying law or social convention, and without disrupting Parliament’s daily operations. The sentiment, "arrest me please, because I care and believe power listens to the polite and well-reasoned," may well represent the image of their government some Canadians wish were true, but it is not reality.
Anti-Wall Street Protests Spread Across the U.S.
Submitted on October 7, 2011By Bill Van Auken - 7 October 2011
On Thursday, new Occupy Wall Street protests sprang up in a number of major cities, including Philadelphia, New Orleans, Washington, Tampa, Dallas, Houston and Austin. They came on the heels of the largest demonstration so far in New York City, where an estimated 15,000 to 20,000 marched through lower Manhattan Wednesday night.
Report from Occupy Wall Street
Submitted on October 7, 2011We arrived at Liberty Square, the site of Occupy Wall Street at the corner of Broadway and Liberty, at 3:00am on Friday morning. Almost 400 people were sleeping across the square, but a few dozen people were still milling around. Even though it was quiet, the energy was already palpable. I had a chance to speak with a few people before going to sleep as well.
The 'Getting' of Assange and the Smearing of a Revolution
Submitted on October 7, 2011By John Pilger - October 07, 2011
The High Court in London will soon decide whether Julian Assange is to be extradited to Sweden to face allegations of sexual misconduct...However, it is not the Swedish judicial system that presents a “grave danger” to Assange...but a legal device known as a Temporary Surrender, under which he can be sent on from Sweden to the United States secretly and quickly.
Tens of Thousands Strike in Greece as Military Threatens to Intervene Against Anti-Austerity Protests
Submitted on October 6, 2011By Robert Stevens - 6 October 2011
Tens of thousands of workers, pensioners and youth protested throughout Greece Wednesday in a 24-hour public sector strike...The intervention of the army into the political life of Greece...must serve as a warning to the working class. Brigadier Stylianos Pattakos, the last surviving officer of the [1967-1974 military] junta, said last year, “In our time, there was no debt...The Greeks are not disciplined like the Germans or the British. They need authority.”
JP Morgan Chase Donates $4.6 Million to NYPD: The Bankers' Pot-Bellied Pinkertons
Submitted on October 6, 2011By JEFFREY SOMMERS - October 7-9, 2011
Wall Street has been the global epicenter of corruption and JP Morgan Chase as one of many organs of its criminal cynicism. Therefore...it should be no surprise that JP Morgan Chase just donated $4.6 million...to the [New York Police Department] Foundation...The NYPD press release says the money will buy 1,000 new laptops for patrol cars as well as security monitoring software in the NYPD’s main data center.
Palestinians Protest Israeli Prison Hell
Submitted on October 6, 2011Israel treats Palestinian prisoners horrifically. In detention, interrogations include torture, intimidation and other abuses.
The Racist Roots of Campus Policing
Submitted on October 6, 2011By BENJAMIN WOODS - Counterpunch
...[C]ontemporary campus police are a response to the student rebellions in the late 1960s and early 1970s...Black students all over the country were taking over administration buildings and the anti-war movement was in full swing...Thus, the campus police and the American police force appear to have similar origins and purposes, maintaining “order” and squashing any potential acts of rebellion
Libyans Resist NATO's Killing Machine
Submitted on October 6, 2011Libyans want their country back and intend to get it.
Circle of Strength Offered in Halifax to Women Fighting for Jordan's Principle
Submitted on October 6, 2011Pictou Landing First Nation mother vs. Canada and non-universal health care
HALIFAX--Thirty people joined in a circle at Halifax's Grand Parade Grounds this morning to offer song and words of support for Pictou Landing First Nation mother Maurina Beadle and Pictou Landing Health Director Philippa Pictou, who were today being cross-examined by defence lawyers for the government of Canada.
"My Little Nightstick’s Going to Get a Workout Tonight" [Video]
Submitted on October 6, 2011Video of a New York City pig bragging about how he'll beat peaceful Occupy Wall Street protesters.
Hunting and Racism
Submitted on October 6, 2011By MARTHA ROSENBERG - October 06, 2011
The flap over the racist name of the hunting lodge that Texas Governor Rick Perry’s family leased is not the first time hunting and racism have conspired to tar a politician.
Guards Retaliate Against Inmates In Growing California Prison Hunger Strike
Submitted on October 6, 2011By Noelle de la Paz - Znet
The Pelican Bay Prison Hunger Strike has gained considerable momentum. The renewed strike began last week and is the second such mass action staged by inmates in less than six months to draw attention to overly punitive treatment. Thousands of inmates have reportedly joined the effort in prisons throughout California and across three additional states, despite efforts by prison administration to crackdown on inmates.
Ontario Elections Serve as Smokescreen for Coming Big Business Offensive
Submitted on October 6, 2011By Keith Jones - 6 October 2011
The corporate media and leading spokesmen for big business openly admit that Ontario's election campaign, which concluded yesterday, was an exercise in political theater: irrespective of their campaign promises, whichever party or combination of parties forms Ontario's next government, it will implement massive cuts to public services.
Top 10 Under-Reported Facts About a Decade of War in Afghanistan
Submitted on October 6, 2011By Derrick O'Keefe - rabble.ca
A decade after the invasion was launched on October 7, 2001, the war in Afghanistan drags on. War hawks of both the neo-conservative and liberal imperialist variety have tempered their rhetoric of late, as the best laid plans (delusions) of "nation-building" and "empire lite" in Afghanistan have gone badly awry.
Passing the Bucks
Submitted on October 6, 2011Draft agreement offers Pictou Landing Band $3 million to put Boat Harbour lawsuit on ice
The provincial government has drafted an offer of $3 million to the Pictou Landing First Nation (PLFN) in return for the Band postponing their lawsuit against the province for at least two years, according to documents obtained by the Halifax Media Co-op.
Israeli Occupation, Colonialism and Apartheid: Crimes Against Humanity
Submitted on October 5, 2011Israel is a rogue terror state.
Guantánamo Film Shows Plight of Canadian Detained at 15
Submitted on October 5, 2011By Peter Walker - Wednesday 5 October 2011
The footage is shocking: grainy film shows a slim teenage boy, hunched into himself under a spotlight in a bare interrogation cell. "You don't care about me"...After they leave, the ceiling-mounted camera records his racking sobs, just audible over the hum of the air-conditioner...At the time of this interrogation in Guantánamo Bay, February 2003, the boy, Omar Khadr...was barely 16, yet he had already been in military custody for seven months.
The Real Reason Why Cops Cage Peaceful Protesters
Submitted on October 5, 2011By Dan Hancox - October 3, 2011
In the UK, publicly owned health care, housing, welfare and education are being cut, broken up and sold off for private profit by David Cameron's Conservative government with audacious speed. This has a very physical manifestation-- in the suffocating of peaceful protest through a technique that has become known as "kettling," in which protesters are contained for five, seven or 10 hours without food, water, toilets, or hope of release.
The Information Intake Form of the V2010ISU
Submitted on October 5, 2011The Information Intake Form is how the V2010ISU got unsolicited information. This can include random phone calls to Crimestoppers, as well as information from random e-mails, prank phone calls, as well as our own propaganda.
Fox Network Threatens to Cancel "The Simpsons" Unless Actors Take Pay Cut
Submitted on October 5, 20115 October 2011 - BBC News
US TV network Fox has said it can no longer afford to produce long-running animated comedy The Simpsons without a pay cut for its cast...Fox made the comment after reports it threatened to end the series unless its voice actors took a 45% pay cut.
RCMPig Accused of Beating Teenager Was Previously Disciplined for "Disgraceful Conduct"
Submitted on October 5, 2011October 5, 2011 - CBC News
The Williams Lake, B.C., RCMP officer accused of assaulting a teenage girl last month had been disciplined by the force for disgraceful conduct in the past, a report says...Const. Andy Yung underwent an internal RCMP investigation in 2008 after he fired his RCMP-issued handgun in his hotel room in a drunken rage, the Ottawa Citizen reports.
Le basque qui a été déporté du Canada fera face à un procès après trois ans passées en détention provisoire.
Submitted on October 5, 2011CKUT Radio: What Cheer? Brigade.
Submitted on October 5, 2011interview with members of What Cheer? Brigade in Montreal
Listen to an interview with two members of the What Cheer? Brigade speaking in Montreal after a performance at La Sala Rossa. In this interview listen to members of the band speak to the brass band tradition, the relationship between collectivity and musical practice, while also highlighting the recent growth in brass bands, emerging from the anti-capitalist protests in the past decade.
Ontario Conservatives Employ Transphobic Election Ads
Submitted on October 5, 2011By Mercedes Allen - October 5, 2011
The flyer...is a litany of omissions and distortions...and more than half of it is devoted to an allegation that the 2011 K-12 Curriculum recommends not informing parents, and that parents don't have a say...[B]y adopting these tactics, conservatives are demonstrating in plain fashion why this education is necessary...The outrage over these flyers also takes place amidst growing activism for inclusion of transsexual and transgender people in human rights legislation.
New York Times: Distorting and Suppressing Truth for Power
Submitted on October 5, 2011The New York Times functions as a state propaganda service.
U.S. Intervention and the Syrian Uprising
Submitted on October 5, 2011By RAMZY BAROUD - October 05, 2011
United States involvement in Syria is the second-greatest danger facing the Syria uprising (the first being the cruelty of the regime). Sweeping sanctions and threats will turn the conflict into another American fight against an Arab regime, as opposed to an unadulterated people’s uprising...for the rights of Syrians and the future of their country.
Union Bureaucrats Bar Socialist Reporter from Press Conference
Submitted on October 5, 2011By Shannon Jones - 5 October 2011
A [United Auto Workers] official stationed in the main lobby of the venue for the press conference...informed this reporter as I arrived in advance of the briefing that I would not be admitted. When asked the reason, the official said the World Socialist Web Site was not authorized to attend. She advised me to call UAW Public Relations Director Michele Martin. As of this writing, the UAW has not returned our call.
Interview with radical radio host and editor, Sasha Lilley Part II
Submitted on October 5, 2011Converation about new book Capital and Its Discontents: Conversations with Radical Thinkers in a Time of Tumult
Interview with Sasha Lilley, editor of new book: Capital and its discontents: conversation with radical thinkers in a time of tumult. First aired on CKUT's Monday Morning After for the WORDS collective on Monday, October 3rd, 2011. Capital is published by Spectre, the political economy imprint by radical publishing company PM Press.
Interview with radical radio host and editor, Sasha Lilley Part I
Submitted on October 5, 2011Converation about new book Capital and Its Discontents: Conversations with Radical Thinkers in a Time of Tumult
Interview with Sasha Lilley, editor of new book: Capital and its discontents: conversation with radical thinkers in a time of tumult. First aired on CKUT's Monday Morning After for the WORDS collective on Monday, October 3rd, 2011. Capital is published by Spectre, the political economy imprint by radical publishing company PM Press.
Israeli State Terror Belies Wanting Peace
Submitted on October 4, 2011Washington and Israel won't tolerate peace.
Day of Action for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Girls and Women
Submitted on October 4, 2011A National Day of Action took place today for missing and murdered indigenous women in the downtown east side (DTES) and across Canada.
The march began at Victory Square and wound through the DTES, ending with a final ceremony at Openheimer Park.
New York's Billionaire Mayor Backs Mass Arrests of Wall Street Protesters
Submitted on October 4, 2011By Bill Van Auken - WSWS
New York City’s billionaire mayor, Michael Bloomberg, has endorsed the police operation in which some 700 peaceful protesters were arrested Saturday on the Brooklyn Bridge...Bloomberg, whose net worth of some $19.5 billion is derived from Wall Street, voiced unqualified support for the police repression on the Brooklyn Bridge...“The police did exactly what they are supposed to do...”
The Day America Died
Submitted on October 4, 2011By PAUL CRAIG ROBERTS - Counterpunch
September 30, 2011 was the day America was assassinated...In other words, any American citizen who is moved into the threat category has no rights and can be executed without trial or evidence...[N]ever prior to President Obama has a President asserted the power to murder citizens...If the president can have American citizens assassinated, there is no big deal about torturing them.
Chaudhrys Finally Allowed to Call Halifax Home
Submitted on October 4, 2011Community support helps family of 5 stay in Canada after 8-year ordeal
In recent months, 10-year-old Rukhna Roouf Chaudhry would sometimes ask her father about her family’s immigration status.
“Sometimes I’d discuss a little bit, sometimes I say everything is good,” says Chaudhry Roouf Ahmad.
The Ethics of the Ethical Oil Cabal
Submitted on October 4, 2011By Simon Enoch - October 4, 2011
The purpose here is...to call out the ethical oilers selective use of "ethics" to justify the continued exploitation of the tar sands. This is the real hypocrisy, as Harper and the ethical oilers apply selective ethical criteria to one product, but not to others. We certainly could adopt an ethical trading policy that put considerations of human rights, indigenous sovereignty and environmental sustainability as the basis for our international trade. However based on those three considerations alone, I doubt Alberta tar-sands would make the cut.
The Media Co-op is Hiring: Vancouver Local Editor
Submitted on October 4, 2011The Media Co-op is hiring!
We're looking for a local editor to co-ordinate coverage and work with contributors and Media Co-op members in Vancouver.
Interview with Marina Sitrin, Occupy Wall Street in global perspective
Submitted on October 4, 2011Brief interview by Rae Dooley from October 4th Tuesday Morning After
Court Documents Show Shell Oil Paid Nigerian Military to Put Down Protests
Submitted on October 4, 2011By John Vidal - Monday, October 3, 2011
Court documents now reveal that in the 1990s Shell routinely worked with Nigeria's military and mobile police to suppress resistance to its oil activities, often from activists in Ogoniland, in the delta region...According to Ogoni activists, several thousand people were killed in the 1990s and many more fled that wave of terror that took place in the 1990s.
The Crime of Making Americans Aware of Their Own History
Submitted on October 4, 2011By WILLIAM BLUM - October 04, 2011
It can’t be repeated or emphasized enough. The biggest lie of the “war on terrorism”, although weakening, is that the targets of America’s attacks have an irrational hatred of the United States and its way of life, based on religious and cultural misunderstandings and envy.
From Troy Davis to Occupy Wall Street: How the Prison System Destroys the "American Dream"
Submitted on October 4, 2011By Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg - AlterNet
The people of Occupy Wall Street are protesting...growing inequality, the staggering rise of the rich and the economic fall of just about everyone else, the divestment in education and a social safety net. Nowhere is this gap and these austerity measures more acutely felt than by those in our prisons...than by the families of those incarcerated, and by the formerly incarcerated who are engaged in a Sisyphean struggle to create a life on the outside.
Canadian Asbestos: Rallying for the Victims
Submitted on October 3, 2011Toban Black on the Media Co-op
They speak about Canadian asbestos exports, victims of asbestos exposure, a history of asbestos around Sarnia-Lambton's Chemical Valley, and other related topics.
Palestinian Freedom Later, Not Now
Submitted on October 3, 2011Washington is blocking Palestine's UN membership.
The Slaughter in Sirte
Submitted on October 3, 2011By Patrick O’Connor - WSWS
NATO countries led by the US, Britain, and France are committing terrible war crimes in the Libyan city of Sirte. In their frenzied drive to crush all remaining resistance in the North African state, NATO and its proxy militia forces aligned with the National Transitional Council are unleashing indiscriminate military force, killing civilians and destroying buildings and infrastructure throughout the urban centre.
Religious-Right Homophobes Whine That They're Being Oppressed
Submitted on October 3, 2011By Joshua Holland - September 29, 2011
Claiming the mantle of an oppressed minority carries real power – the power to shame, and ultimately the ability to shape public policy. For years, the Right, having lost the battle against African American civil rights in the 1950s and 1960s, has sought to turn the tables and portray themselves as the target of bigotry, and their vehicle of choice is the supposed religious persecution of conservative evangelicals.
Are Psychiatric Medications Making Us Sicker?
Submitted on October 3, 2011By John Horgan - September 18, 2011
...[O]ver the past few decades the proportion of Americans diagnosed with mental illness has skyrocketed...This epidemic has coincided, paradoxically, with a surge in prescriptions for psychiatric drugs. Between 1985 and 2008, sales of anti-depressants and anti-psychotics multiplied almost fifty-fold, to $24.2-billion. Prescriptions for bipolar disorder and anxiety have also swelled. One in eight Americans, including children and even toddlers, is now taking a psychotropic medication.
Police State Justice Under Obama
Submitted on October 3, 2011No one is safe anywhere in a world ruled by rogue leaders, taking the law into their own hands with impunity.
Missing Aboriginal Women: Canada’s Secret Shame
Submitted on October 3, 2011By MARTIN LUKACS - Counterpunch
Killed in their homes and in the streets, on and off reservations, by acquaintances and by strangers, aboriginal women are the victims of an unmistakable epidemic of violence. They are five times more likely to die violently than their non-aboriginal counterparts. In northern [British Columbia], so many have disappeared on notorious highway 16 that it has been given a chilling name: the Highway of Tears.
New York City Police Arrest Over 700 Anti-Wall Street Protesters
Submitted on October 3, 2011By Sandy English - WSWS
Over 700 anti-Wall Street protesters were arrested Saturday on the Brooklyn Bridge by the New York Police Department...The mass arrests mark a major escalation in police intimidation tactics. It came on the heels of acts of police brutality, such as the pepper-spraying of unresisting demonstrators and the arrest of over 80 marchers last weekend, which have sparked widespread anger and resulted in the swelling of the protest’s ranks.
Class Warfare Indeed
Submitted on October 3, 2011By Michael Parenti - October 03, 2011
The moneyed class...has been doing class warfare on our heads and on those who came before us for more than two centuries. But when we point that out, when we use terms like class warfare, class conflict, and class struggle to describe the system of exploitation we live under — our indictments are dismissed out of hand and denounced as Marxist ideological ranting, foul and divisive.
A Stable Misery, Part 1.
Submitted on October 2, 2011Abbas Feeling Heavy-Handed Pressure
Submitted on October 2, 2011Washington opposition assures zero chance for Palestinian UN membership.
The Mascots Who Shall Not be Named
Submitted on October 2, 2011By TOM SEMIOLI - September 30-October 2, 2011
...[T]here are still some sports teams and their loyal fans who just don’t “get it” when it comes to the stark reality of blatantly racist sports mascots...The landscape of college and professional sports is littered with team logos, chants, and other cheer-leading activities that have denigrated and grossly misrepresented a culture that oft practiced a greater reverence for the environment, humanity, and the animal kingdom than did the European settlers who “discovered” America...
The Unholy Alliance That Supports Israel
Submitted on October 2, 2011By Gerry Caplan - October 1, 2011
There will be no Israeli-Palestinian spring. At the United Nations, Israel's closest, most reliable allies are once again assuring the nation a future of isolation, insecurity, irreconcilable internal division, international condemnation and endless conflict. For the people of Israel, a life of perpetual anxiety is assured. As my family used to put it, is this good for the Jews?
Congressional Anti-Internet Freedom Bills
Submitted on October 2, 2011Congressional hard-liners want to end Internet freedom.
Is Capitalism Preparing to Bury Itself?
Submitted on October 2, 2011By MURRAY DOBBIN - Counterpunch Weekend Edition
The Washington Consensus — the name given to neo-liberalism and its agenda of privatization, deregulation, free trade, cuts to social spending and huge tax cuts for the wealthy — was not just a call to moderate state intervention in the economy. It was determined to gut it, to return to that period where the economy...was somehow hived off from society and government and allowed to run without regulation or direction...It was a sort of revenge of the nerds — we’ll show those uppity workers.
Is the War on Terror a Hoax?
Submitted on October 2, 2011By Paul Craig Roberts - September 30, 2011
In the past decade, Washington has killed, maimed, dislocated, and made widows and orphans millions of Muslims in six countries, all in the name of the “war on terror.” Washington’s attacks on the countries constitute naked aggression and impact primarily civilian populations and infrastructure and...constitute war crimes under law. Nazis were executed precisely for what Washington is doing today.
Obama Boasts of Assassinating American Citizen in Yemen
Submitted on October 2, 2011By Bill Van Auken - 1 October 2011
In a speech before a military audience in Virginia Friday, President Barack Obama boasted of the role of the CIA and US special operations units in the killing of Anwar al-Awlaki...It marked the first time in history that an American president has publicly applauded the government’s assassination of a US citizen, who in Awlaki’s case has never been charged or indicted for any crime, much less tried and convicted in a court of law.
Palestinian UN Membership Roulette
Submitted on October 1, 2011Palestinians now want and deserve official recognition and full de jure UN membership. Washington and Israel remain obstructionist.
American Vengeance: The Roots of Social Tyranny
Submitted on October 1, 2011By DAVID ROSEN - Counterpunch Weekend Edition
Over the last few months, the U.S. has witnessed repeated calls for vengeance, for revenge, punishment, retribution … for blood. These calls express one of the most disturbing facets of the American “character,” the Old Testament call for an eye-for-an-eye, a tooth-for-a-tooth. Vengeance haunts 21st century America like a ghost of times long dead.
No Excuses: Join the Occupy Wall Street Movement or Stand on the Wrong Side of History
Submitted on October 1, 2011By Chris Hedges - September 30, 2011
There are no excuses left. Either you join the revolt taking place on Wall Street and in the financial districts of other cities across the country or you stand on the wrong side of history. Either you obstruct...the plundering by the criminal class on Wall Street and accelerated destruction of the ecosystem that sustains the human species, or become the passive enabler of a monstrous evil. Either you taste, feel and smell the intoxication of freedom and revolt or sink into the miasma of despair and apathy.
Occupy Wall Street: The Game of Colonialism and the Left
Submitted on October 1, 2011By Jessica Yee - October 1, 2011
From the protests on the streets of Wall Street in the name of "ending capitalism" -- organizers, protesters, and activists have been encouraged to "occupy" different places that symbolize greed and power. There's just one problem: The United States is already being occupied. This is Indigenous land. And it's been occupied for quite some time now...New York City is Haudenosaunee territory and home to many other First Nations.
Prison Hell in America
Submitted on October 1, 2011Prison is hell everywhere. America is no different in being, by far, the world's largest gulag. Inmates are treated worse than subhumans.
UK "Labour" Party Conference Commits to Austerity, Cuts in Pay, Jobs and Welfare
Submitted on October 1, 2011By Julie Hyland - 1 October 2011
...[I]n the fight against rising unemployment, poverty and the mass spending cuts of the Conservative-Liberal Democrat [government], working people face no greater enemy than the Labour Party...["Labour"] party leader Ed Miliband defended the right-wing policies championed by Conservative and Labour alike over the past 30 years [and]...insisted that a Labour government would be just as committed to austerity as the coalition.
U.S. Assassination Rights
Submitted on October 1, 2011By Edward S. Herman - Z Magazine
Assassination is as American as apple pie...Assassination rights...[flow] from military and economic power, arrogance, self-righteousness, and client status.
Jason Kenney Is Lying Again
Submitted on October 1, 2011By Syed Hussan - October 1, 2011
[Minister of Deportation and Censorship Jason] Kenney ends his article [in the right-wing National Post] by saying "Bill C-4 sends the message around the world that Canada will no longer be the world's doormat." The world may not think of Canada as a doormat, but it is realizing the Canadian government for what it is: warring, polluting, thieving, lying scumbags, with a victim complex.
Why I support Occupy Vancouver
Submitted on October 1, 2011When I tell my activists friends about the Occupy Vancouver action on October 15th their initial response is: "who's organizing it?" My response is, "Who cares?"
Entrapping Muslims in America
Submitted on September 30, 2011Post-9/11, American Muslims became fair game, targeting them for their faith, ethnicity, and at times prominence and charity.
Canadian Arctic Loses Nearly Entire Ice Shelf
Submitted on September 30, 2011Friday, September 30, 2011 - Common Dreams
Two ice shelves that existed before Canada was settled by Europeans diminished significantly this northern summer, one nearly disappearing altogether, Canadian scientists say in newly published research...The loss is important as a marker of global warming, returning the Canadian Arctic to conditions that date back thousands of years, scientists say.
Obama Administration Seeks First Death Penalty Via Military Tribunal at Guantánamo
Submitted on September 30, 2011By Kate Randall - 30 September 2011
The Obama administration announced Wednesday that it will conduct its first death penalty prosecution at the Guántanamo Bay prison camp. In a posting on a new web site dedicated to the military tribunals, the Pentagon announced formal charges against Abd al Rahim al Nashiri, who is accused of planning the attack on the USS Cole in the year 2000.
Rage Against Wall Street Crooks
Submitted on September 30, 2011Angry New Yorkers organized an initiative called "Occupy Wall Street." Beginning September 17, they called for "tak(ing) the bull by the horns," referring to the familiar New York financial district symbol.
Progressive U.S. Journalist Deported from India
Submitted on September 30, 2011September 30, 2011 - Znet
David Barsamian is a veteran broadcaster, and founder and director of Alternative Radio, a weekly one-hour public affairs program offered free to all public radio stations in the US, Canada, Europe and beyond. For more than 25 years Alternative Radio has provided information, analyses and views that are frequently ignored in other media.
Victory for Insite, Vancouver's Safe Injection Site
Submitted on September 30, 2011By Cathryn Atkinson - rabble.ca
"...Insite has been proven to save lives with no discernible negative impact on the public safety and health objectives of Canada. The effect of denying the services of Insite to the population it serves and the correlative increase in the risk of death and disease to injection drug users is grossly disproportionate to any benefit that Canada might derive from presenting a uniform stance on the possession of narcotics."
- The Supreme Court of Canada, Sept. 30, 2011
Islamic Info Road Show
Submitted on September 30, 2011In which we converse with three friendly Haligonian Muslims as they hand out pamphlets.
Scapegoating is never fun. Throughout history, scapegoating has been used as a tactic to divert attention from actual, root causes of issues, and instead blames an easily identifiable target, and incites fear and anger against them.
Council to vote on future of St. Pat’s site
Submitted on September 30, 2011Will it be condos or community organizations?
It’s rush hour on a warm day in early September. Parents all over the city scurry to collect their children, but the backyard of St. Patrick’s Alexandra on Brunswick Street remains silent and empty. Today, the keys to the school are in Halifax Regional Municipality hands, and the property – one of the largest spaces in the community – is up for sale.
Harper Government Promotes Militarism, Monarchy and Reaction
Submitted on September 30, 2011By Graham Beverly - WSWS
As the Canadian capitalist class has ever more vigorously asserted its imperialist interests abroad...its servants in the Harper government have contemptuously discarded the “peaceful” and “liberal-social democratic” Canadian nationalism promoted by the Liberal governments of the 1960s and 1970s and sought to promote the military and the Crown as sacrosanct elements of “what it means to be Canadian.”
The Metamorphosis of the NYPD: From Heroes to Pigs
Submitted on September 30, 2011By DAVE LINDORFF - September 30-October 2, 2011
Back in the late 1960s, the Black Panthers...took to calling the cops pigs...[I]t was an apt description. Police...routinely batter minority people who have already been handcuffed and arrested, using batons, kicks to the groin and head, choke holds, and other methods, as well as tasers, mace and pepper spray. They engage in such sadism not to control subjects in their custody, but simply because they are twisted brutes drunk on their power, and because they can get away with it. Tasers...are particularly popular torture devices, used with increasing frequency.
The assassination of Fr. Jose Reynel Restrepo
Submitted on September 30, 2011(editors note: This was originally posted at the Catholic paper http://ncronline.org/blogs/road-peace/assassination-fr-jose-reynel-restrepo but was taken down with this notice: "After receipt of objections on behalf of G
Insite Wins! Supreme Court backs safe injection site
Submitted on September 30, 2011VANCOUVER - The Supreme Court has unanimously ruled in favour of the Insite safe injection site. The decision came early this morning from Ottawa that Insite is exempt from federal drug laws.
A crowd of more than 300 was on hand outside Insite to cheer the decison at about 7am local time.
Israeli West Bank Annexation Bill
Submitted on September 29, 2011Israel wants all of the West Bank annexed.
Is the U.S. a Police State?
Submitted on September 29, 2011By JOHN GRANT - Counterpunch
Honorable people like to debate whether the United States of America is a “police state,” but when it comes to shutting down the expression of ideas on the political left, there’s little room for argument...No, we’re not a police state like our friends in Saudi Arabia...Our police agencies have figured out how to accomplish police state repression in a “softer,” more sophisticated manner.
Last of the Last
Submitted on September 29, 2011Windsor's Savannah and Tall Grass Prairie
From Knowing the Land is Resistance
Imploding Bubble Economies
Submitted on September 29, 2011Economic meltdown comes in stages. Recognition takes longer. TV pundits stay in denial longest, calling crisis conditions a normal correction. Reality suggests otherwise with US unemployment approaching 23%, home foreclosures multiplying, and poverty levels double.
Toronto Demonstration Opposes Municipal Cuts
Submitted on September 29, 2011By Carl Bronski - WSWS
About two thousand people rallied outside Toronto City Hall Monday evening, protesting against a $29 million package of cuts to municipal services recommended by the city’s millionaire, right-wing mayor, Rob Ford...As the protest unfolded, city councilors inside the hall were debating a series of measures that would privatize zoos and theatres, close museums and end critically needed programs.
Missing Women's Commission Flounders
Submitted on September 29, 2011By Angela Sterritt - September 26, 2011
“The government’s decision means some of the best lawyers in Vancouver will be working on a limitless retainer to destroy the credibility of Aboriginal women, sex trade workers and other vulnerable witnesses if they dare criticize the police, and these witnesses won’t have their own lawyers to defend them...It’s outrageous.”
- David Eby, British Columbia Civil Liberties Association (BCCLA)
Rallying for Respect and Against the Silencing of Toronto
Submitted on September 29, 2011By Elizabeth Littlejohn - September 29, 2011
There is a reason why Ontario's neo-conservative tag team of Ford, Hudak and Harper...is working so quickly to privatize core public services at the municipal level -- they realize that sustainable urban planners, architects, grassroots organizations and citizens who build progressive movements are strong, organized and thoughtful in cities, and want to quash them. This was openly admitted by Harper when he attended a barbeque in Ford's backyard this past spring.
KI calls on McGuinty to stop mining activity on sacred burial sites; Ontario’s inaction violates freedom of religion; threatens to spark new conflict
Submitted on September 29, 2011Ontario’s inaction violates freedom of religion; threatens to spark new conflict
Kitchenuhmaykoosib Inninuwug (KI) - KI Chief Donny Morris is urgently calling on Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty to intervene to stop mining exploration activity on a sacred KI ancestral burial site. Mining exploration company God’s Lake Resources has staked new claims in violation of KI’s well publicized moratorium and has worked the site in
KI First Nation Issues Eviction Notice to God's Lake Resources
Submitted on September 29, 2011Kitchenuhmaykoosib Inninuwug (KI) yesterday served a notice of eviction to God's Lake Resources and Ed Ludwig for tresspassing on KI's spiritual and sacred lands. All operations must cease today and all personnel must leave immediately within the vicinity of Sherman Lake and the area.
Ahmad Qatamesh: Israeli Prisoner of Conscience
Submitted on September 28, 2011Israel has many hundreds of political prisoners in its jails.
Police Rough Up Anti-Cheney Protesters
Submitted on September 28, 2011By David P. Ball - September 28, 2011
As former U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney spoke in Vancouver on Monday night...several hundred people demanded his arrest on charges of war crimes and torture, blocking both entrances to the upscale Vancouver Club by linking arms...Police escorted speech-goers to the private book club event inside, at one point shoving an identified reporter forcefully, pushing an older man to the ground and stepping on sitting demonstrators.
Washington State Longshore Workers Resist Anti-Union Grain Operator and Police Brutality
Submitted on September 28, 2011By Evan Rohar - Labor Notes
An attempt by a big grain exporter to operate a new state-of-the art facility without longshore union labor has met stiff resistance from the rank and file in the Pacific Northwest...Police have responded by breaking up protests and arresting about 135 since July, injuring peaceful demonstrators and pulling unionists from their homes and cars. The Longshore union (ILWU) filed a lawsuit Thursday seeking to stop “ongoing police brutality and harassment.”
The Dangerous Cult of the Guardian
Submitted on September 28, 2011By JONATHAN COOK - September 28, 2011
...[T]he Guardian [is] considered the most left-wing newspaper in Britain and rapidly acquiring cult status in the United States, where many readers tend to assume they are getting access...to unvarnished truth and the full range of critical thinking on the left...Nonetheless, it would be unwise to believe that the Guardian is...a free market in progressive or dissident ideas on the left. In fact...the paper strictly polices what can be said and who can say it in its pages, for cynical reasons...
Calls to Annex West Bank Settlements
Submitted on September 28, 2011Israel wants all of the West Bank and Jerusalem for its territory.
Williams Lake Teen Says RCMPigs Assaulted Her
Submitted on September 28, 2011September 27, 2011 - CBC News
The B.C. Civil Liberties Association is calling for an independent investigation into allegations an RCMP officer in Williams Lake, B.C., assaulted a 17-year-old girl...Martina Jeff says her teenage daughter, Jamie Haller, was punched in the face by an RCMP constable while she was handcuffed in the back of a police car..."I saw Jamie on the ground, crying and handcuffed...I got out and ran towards her. She was having a panic attack. She is very small and has never been in trouble with police before."
Despite NYPD Efforts, Wall Street Stays Occupied
Submitted on September 27, 2011By Joe Macaré - September 27, 2011
Those who attend protests that challenge corporate power and unrestrained capitalism in the U.S. and Europe may have become used by now to a police response that is both excessive and untargeted, whether one is an active participant, an observer or merely a passerby...But from all accounts so far, it appears that yesterday [New York City cops]...took the policing of such protests to new and violent levels.
Filming the Extraordinary Life of Eddy Zheng: Bay Area Community Leader Facing Imminent Deportation
Submitted on September 27, 2011Ben Wang is the director/producer of the upcoming documentary film, Breathin’: The Eddy Zheng Story. The film’s website explains that "after serving over 20 years behind bars for a robbery he committed at age 16, Chinese American community leader Eddy Zheng now faces deportation to China, a huge loss to the Bay Area community."
Obstructing Palestinian Statehood Begins
Submitted on September 27, 2011Palestinians want what all independent states enjoy, including fair and open elections to choose their own leaders democratically, free from outside influence.
Undoing Borders: Queer Discussion on Im/migration and Criminalization
Submitted on September 27, 2011Essex, Li and Molly joined Earful of Queer live in studio to talk about their tour and their zine. The interview was followed by a short set by DJ BootyKlap.
Beyond the Toronto Declaration: Stop the Cuts Builds on Popular Consultation to Fight Ford
Submitted on September 27, 2011By Megan Kinch - September 23, 2011
On September 10th...around 900 people gathered in Dufferin Grove Park for a public meeting on how to stop Toronto Mayor Rob Ford’s cuts...The meeting was put on by the Stop The Cuts network, an alliance of grassroots groups that includes some of the largest organizations in the city..."It seems almost everyone I talk to already has a sense that Ford is intent on destroying our communities. The momentum is definitely building."
Saving the Rich, Losing the Economy
Submitted on September 27, 2011By PAUL CRAIG ROBERTS - September 26, 2011
The path that the US economy is on means that the number of Americans without resources to sustain them will be rising. Considering the extraordinary political incompetence of the Democratic Party, the right wing of the Republican Party, which is committed to eliminating income support programs, could find itself in power. If the right-wing Republicans implement their program, the US will be beset with political and social instability.
Featuring ... the 2011 Halifax Slam Team
Submitted on September 27, 2011Poetry and Interviews
This show features the 2011 Halifax slam team. I did interviews with the 3 of 5 members of the team, all of whom are headed to Canadian Festival of Spoken Word (which includes the slam championships from October 11th - 15th. The show features poetry from all five members and a couple of others from some other great local poets.
Length: a shade over an hour
Bayers Road gets stay of execution
Submitted on September 27, 2011HRM defers decision on road widening for one year
Facing near-unanimous opposition to the widening of Bayers Road, HRM today decided to take cover for a year.
The HRM Regional Council today deferred for at least one year any decision on whether or not to approve two large technical reports which would have effectively committed the muncipality to the $21-million project.
Bolivian Government Violently Represses Indigenous Protest
Submitted on September 27, 2011By Bill Van Auken - 27 September 2011
The government of President Evo Morales carried out a bloody crackdown Sunday against a march by indigenous protesters against the building of a new highway through their lands...The assault killed a three-month-old baby, who died of asphyxiation from the teargas. Many others were injured, and at least 37 were reported missing, including a number of children.
Inside the Wall Street Protests: An Eyewitness Account of Police Crackdown on Peaceful Demonstrators [Video]
Submitted on September 27, 2011By J.A. Myerson - September 25, 2011
A group of protestors...marched on Union Square Saturday morning, and around 100 of them were arrested. Police sprayed peaceful protestors in the face with pepper spray, threw them to the ground and assaulted them with elbows, dragged a woman around by the hair, jumped over barricades to grab and rough up young people, and...laughed to themselves triumphantly.
Pitch For Pay!
Submitted on September 27, 2011Write for the Media Co-op!
As we do every month, in October we will pay two contributors for news features to be published in The Dominion. We prioritize solutions-oriented news pieces with a Canadian angle, including photo essays and video pitches.
War Criminal's Welcome: Dick Cheney's Vancouver Visit Galvanizes Spirited Protest [Video]
Submitted on September 27, 2011September 27, 2011 - Vancouver Media Co-op
While the protest was light hearted at times, overall the protesters were serious in their opposition to Cheney’s presence, forming a picket line around both the front and back entrance to prevent supporters from entering. The protester’s were determined to illustrate Cheney’s position in the Iraq war and torture, and demand that international law be upheld in their city of Vancouver.
Quartet Anti-Palestinian Statehood Proposal
Submitted on September 27, 2011Efforts to subvert Palestinian statehood.
A War Criminal's Welcome for Dick Cheney
Submitted on September 27, 2011VANCOUVER - Noisy, determined opponents of torture surrounded the staid Vancouver Club tonight while self-confessed torturer Dick Cheney entertained wealthy Vancouverites inside at $500 a head. Cheney was flogging his memoirs approving flogging "war on terror" suspects.
Dick in Van
Submitted on September 26, 2011About 500 people showed up the elite Vancouver Club to protest Dick Cheney's visit to Vancouver. Cheney was speaking as a guest of the Bon Mot Book Club. It was a sold out $500 a plate dinner to promote Cheney's book In My Time. Activists tried to block guests from entering the club and police had to "snatch" the guests to get through the crowd of angry protesters.
Missing Women's Commission Flounders
Submitted on September 26, 2011Groups looking elsewhere for answers to murder, disappearance of Aboriginal women
Vancouver—Just weeks before the BC Missing Women Commission of Inquiry is set to begin, concerns and questions continue to be raised by the groups representing Aboriginal, women’s and sex-trade worker’s groups. More are walking away from what appears to be a crumbling process.
"Anti-Semitism" Slander Against Palestine Activists Ridiculous
Submitted on September 26, 2011By Tony Iltis - Green Left Weekly
[Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions] is a progressive, anti-racist movement. The struggle for rights for Palestinians is no more aimed at persecuting Jews than the struggle for non-white South Africans’ freedom from Apartheid was aimed at persecuting whites...For 60 years, Palestinians have been punished for an event in European history that they played no part in.
Palestinians Are Already Recognized As a State by Two-Thirds of the World
Submitted on September 26, 2011By James Ball - Tuesday 20 September 2011
Almost two-thirds of the UN's member states – representing more than 75% of the world's population – already formally recognize the Palestinian state in some form...Countries which do not yet formally recognize Palestine are overwhelmingly concentrated in western Europe and North America.
Netanyahu and Obama Spurn Peace
Submitted on September 26, 2011Both Netanyahu and Obama choose conflict over peace.
The Deaths of Three Hockey "Enforcers:" The Tragic Contradictions of Professional Sports
Submitted on September 26, 2011By Jack Miller - WSWS
Professional hockey can be regarded as a showcase of outstanding talent, exhibited for the appreciation of informed and knowledgeable fans...But given the demands of the market, professional hockey is also an entertainment competing for the largest possible audience with a dozen other mass spectacles. The interplay between these contradictions has driven continual and accelerating change in the way hockey has been played over the past century.
Déclaration commune: Solidaires face à la répression politique - Together against political repression
Submitted on September 25, 2011Ce matin, dans le cadre de la comparution de deux hommes et deux femmes arrêtées suite à la manifestation anticapitaliste du 1er mai 2011, la CLAC (Convergence des luttes anticapitalistes) tenait un point de presse devant le palais de justice de Montréal. Une déclaration signée par plus de trente groupes a été rendue publique. Cette d
AIPAC's Ugly Agenda
Submitted on September 25, 2011The America Israel Public Affairs Committee is an unregistered foreign agent representing Israel. Edward Said once called it "the most powerful and feared lobby in Washington."
Harper Goes to the UN: Canadian Imperialism and Palestine
Submitted on September 25, 2011By Nick Day - September 23, 2011
Stephen Harper thinks that the Palestinian problem should be settled by negotiations, on Israel's terms. Stephen Harper thinks that it's not safe to "give" a state to Palestine...Stephen Harper is playing an imperialist's game of Risk with land that belongs to Palestinians: acting in his own calculated interests against the rights of a colonized people.
What WikiLeaks' U.S. Embassy Cables Reveal About U.S. Pressure and Propaganda
Submitted on September 25, 2011By Maximilian Forte - Znet
The U.S. Embassy cables published by WikiLeaks present numerous very interesting stories about how Al Jazeera was brought to heel by the U.S. Government. The U.S. Embassy in Doha, and officials from Washington, used a variety of direct and indirect methods of ensuring a greater degree of compliance on the part of Al Jazeera.
The Irvine 11: Guilty of Being Muslims in America
Submitted on September 24, 2011Post-9/11, America targeted Muslims ruthlessly for political advantage. Law-abiding citizens discovered they're living here at the wrong time.
Israeli Dogs of War
Submitted on September 24, 2011SchNEWS - Friday 23rd September 2011 | Issue 789
Despite being slipped a cache of tear gas and stun grenades by the Israeli military ahead of Palestine's September application for UN recognition...some of the more insane sections of Israel's settler movement are also training dogs to attack Palestinians...The Civilian Attack Dog Unit (CADU) is the brain child of New York-born settlement leader Yekutiel “Mike” Guzofsky, a former sidekick of the deceased Rabbi Meir Kahane – a man branded a fascist by the Israeli Supreme Court.
Une vague de lois antiavortement traverse les États-Unis
Submitted on September 24, 2011Depuis le début de l’année 2011, 19 États américains ont adopté un total de quatre-vingts lois antiavortement. Un record!
COMING DOWN THE PIPELINE
Submitted on September 24, 2011Governments and corporations misrepresent the facts on oil sands
Proposed extensions to the existing network of trans-continental oil pipelines has raised public concern in Canada and the US over t
Celebrating Grandfather Commanda, the Morning Star
Submitted on September 24, 2011A few nights ago my neighbour and I climbed up onto his roof.
ON THE ROAD AGAIN
Submitted on September 24, 2011Fourth annual Walk4Justice highlights violence against women
On June 21, 2011, a group of dedicated women, men and children stepped out into the streets of Vancouver and began a cross-co
Oil Sands Pipeline Protests: Big-Name Celebs Irk Canadian Government
Submitted on September 24, 2011Saturday, September 24, 2011 - Common Dreams
Canada's energy minister shot back on Friday at Hollywood celebrities protesting a plan to build a $7 billion oil pipeline to Texas from Alberta in the first public indication that the protests are getting under Ottawa's skin..."Criticism of the oil sands - and now the proposed Keystone XL pipeline - is a major concern for us, with implications for our energy industry, our economy and our energy security..."
Paola Ortiz deportation: A Canadian disgrace
Submitted on September 24, 2011Despite public outcry, officials turn blind eye to danger mother of two faces from abusive ex in Mexico
On Friday, Sept. 23, Canada deported Paola Ortiz, the mom of two Canadian citizen kids, aged 2 and 4, to Mexico, a country she fled in 2006 to escape sexual abuse and domestic violence at the hands of her then-financé, a federal Mexican police officer.
Resuming Peace Process Hypocrisy to Subvert Palestinian Statehood
Submitted on September 24, 2011Israel makes genuine negotiations impossible by demanding one-sided advantages. Everything for Israel! Nothing for Palestinians with rhetoric formulated to disguise it.
Peru: Indigenous Communities Kick Out Canadian Mining Company
Submitted on September 24, 2011By Benjamin Dangl - September 24, 2011
Earlier this summer, an anti-mining Indigenous movement in Peru successfully ousted a Canadian mining company from their territory. “In spite of government repression, if the people decide to bring the fight to the bitter end, it is possible to resist the pressure of mining and oil companies...”
West Bank Tensions Grow as Female Settlers Learn How to Use Guns
Submitted on September 24, 2011Saturday 24 September 2011 - The Guardian
The settlers come down the hill from the outpost...They carry Israeli flags, and sometimes bring guns, shovels and dogs...They taunt the local villagers and sometimes attack them. Often the Israeli army arrives and trains its weapons on the villagers..."The settlers are provoking us continuously...They uproot olive trees, kill our sheep, burn our mosques and curse our prophet. They want to drag us into the sphere of violence. We do not want to go there."
Vancouver Beat Cop Launches Blog About Downtown Eastside
Submitted on September 24, 2011By Michael Stewart - September 19, 2011
As long as the [Vancouver Police Department] continues to look the other way while [Downtown Eastside] women are tossed out of sixth-story windows, this vibrant and autonomous community [doesn't] need a Beat Cop to tell them how the VPD criminalizes and polices the city's most vulnerable and most marginalized people.
State-Sponsored Murder: Official U.S. Policy
Submitted on September 23, 2011Georgia's September 21 cold-blooded murder of Troy Anthony Davis symbolizes what's wrong with America.
Psychiatric Drugs: Chemical Warfare on Humans (An Interview with Author Robert Whitaker)
Submitted on September 23, 2011By Terry Messman - Natural News
Investigative Reporter Robert Whitaker, the author of the groundbreaking book Anatomy of an Epidemic: Magic Bullets, Psychiatric Drugs, and the Astonishing Rise of Mental Illness in America, is pursuing a fascinating line of research into how the mammoth psychiatric drug industry, along with mainstream psychiatry, is endangering the public by covering up the untold cases of suffering, anguish and disease caused by the most widely prescribed anti-depressants, anti-psychotics and other psychiatric medications.
Greek Workers Strike, Protest Against Brutal Austerity Measures
Submitted on September 23, 2011By David Walsh - 23 September 2011
Tens of thousands of Greek public transport workers, teachers, civil servants and air traffic controllers walked out Thursday to protest the latest round of austerity measures announced the day before by the PASOK government...Workers responded explosively to the deeply unpopular plan. In and around Athens, bus, subway, tram, electric rail and suburban rail workers walked off the job, joined by taxi owners.
Palestinian Statehood: If Not Now, When?
Submitted on September 23, 2011After 63 years, including 44 under occupation, 85% of Palestinians want statehood now, not later or perhaps never.
6 Right-Wing Owners Who Use Their Sport's Teams to Bankroll Their Reactionary Agendas
Submitted on September 23, 2011By Rania Khalek - AlterNet
Chances are that basketball fans cheering on the Orlando Magic...haven’t a clue they’re also supporting the radical right-wing ideology of the team’s billionaire owner, Richard DeVos. And when hockey fans root for the Philadelphia Flyers, they are likely unaware that the team’s war-mongering owner, Ed Snider, is profiting off of their support.
Palestinian Resisting Incursion by Settlers Shot Dead by Israeli Soldiers
Submitted on September 23, 2011Friday 23 September 2011 - The Guardian
The incident began with a warning broadcast made over mosque speakers in Qusra of an approach by settlers from a nearby outpost. Scores of village men and youths headed towards a hill where around 20 settlers had gathered, waving Israeli flags...Israeli troops arrived and fired tear gas, then live rounds. Settlers also fired their weapons. A statement from the Israel Defence Forces confirmed its troops had used live fire against the Palestinians after rocks were thrown...
SFSS Support Staff - Locked-out for over 11 weeks
Submitted on September 23, 2011An interview with workers and union representatives
About two months ago, and in the midst of contract negotiations, the Board of Directors of the Simon Fraser Student Society made a decision to lock-out their office and support staff. The workers have now been locked out for over 11 weeks while the board attempts to financially bully them into an agreement.
Hotel Employees Picket Hilton
Submitted on September 22, 2011Motorists and pedestrians walking through and past Burnaby's Crystal Mall on Thursday 22 September stopped to watch as 75 Hilton workers and their allies protested the hotel for not taking negotiations seriously.
Obama-Style Deficit Reduction
Submitted on September 22, 2011Obama wants to sock the poor to enrich the wealthy.
Cops and Condos: Poverty and Gentrification in Toronto's Downtown Eastside
Submitted on September 22, 2011By Alex Balch - September 22, 2011
Police maintain a near constant presence on the block. Swarms of bicycle cops patrol the area, hassling members of the local homeless population. According to one long-term resident, the Toronto Police Service routinely sends rookie cops onto the street to get them used to wielding their new-found impunity. Police officers often handcuff residents while conducting illegal searches...The street is home to a high concentration of racialized residents, who also face frequent racial profiling.
Announcing the Canadian Worker's Co-op Federation Conference: October 13-15, Quebec City
Submitted on September 22, 2011SCALING UP WORKER CO-OPERATIVES IN NORTH AMERICA – LEADERS FROM ITALY, SPAIN, FRANCE AND ARGENTINA WILL SHARE THEIR WORKER CO-OPERATIVE SUCCESS STORIES AT THE NORTH AMERICAN WORKER CO-OPERATIVE CONFERENCE, OCTOBER 13-15, 2011 IN QUEBEC CITY
After Troy Davis' Death: Questions I Can't Unask
Submitted on September 22, 2011By Dave Zirin - September 22, 2011
Why does the right wing in this country distrust "big government" on everything except executing people of color and the poor?...What the hell do I tell my seven year old daughter who has been marching to save Troy since she was in a stroller?...Why does this hurt so much?
The Arrogant Voice of Imperialism: Obama at the UN
Submitted on September 22, 2011By Bill Van Auken - 22 September 2011
President Obama delivered an empty and arrogant sermon to the United Nations Wednesday, laced with platitudes about “peace” that were designed to mask Washington’s predatory policies...Obama’s empty rhetoric is a direct expression of the profound crisis gripping American capitalism and its ruling financial elite as it confronts economic collapse and the threat of revolutionary upheaval.
A Culture of Cruelty: U.S. Border Patrol's History of Abuses
Submitted on September 22, 2011By BRENDA NORRELL - September 22, 2011
Interviews revealed migrants suffering from dehydration were denied water, children and adults were beaten, migrants were denied sleep and subjected to humiliation and other forms of psychological abuse. Migrants were denied medicine, including diabetics, and denied food. Border Patrol agents also verbally abused migrants with racist insults.
Jews and the Struggle Against Oppression
Submitted on September 22, 2011By Rick Kuhn - September 22, 2011
It is possible to oppose anti-semitism on a narrow basis, that the racist persecution of Jews is wrong. A broader and far more effective approach strengthens the fight against anti-semitism by treating it as part of the struggle against all forms of racism and oppression. From this perspective, the front line of the battle against anti-semitism today is the campaign against apartheid Israel.
The Execution of Troy Davis
Submitted on September 22, 2011By Kate Randall - WSWS
The world looked on in horror Wednesday night as death row inmate Troy Davis was executed by lethal injection at the state prison near Jackson, Georgia...The state-sanctioned murder was the final grisly episode in a judicial travesty that spanned more than two decades. It stands as a damning indictment of the entire political system and a shameful episode in the history of the United States.
The Extremism That Never Speaks Its Name
Submitted on September 22, 2011By John Pilger - September 22, 2011
A fifth of British children live in poverty: a figure forecast to rise in the Olympic year. The priority of Britain’s political class, regardless of party, is the repayment by ordinary people of “the deficit”, a specious and cynical term for the epic handouts to crooked banks, and the simultaneous waging of squalid colonial wars for the theft of other countries’ resources. This is extremism that never speaks its name.
Inquiry Into RCMP Killing of Native Man Falls Flat
Submitted on September 22, 2011September 21, 2011 - Vancouver Media Co-op
Not only are the [Royal Canadian Mounted Police] a corrupt and oppressive force...they are also an important instrument in the colonial occupation of Native lands. Originally the North-West Mounted Police (NWMP), they were modeled after the Royal Irish Constabulary, then used by the British in their occupation of Ireland. The NWMP were established in 1873 after the Metis-Native rebellion of 1870. Their first major deployment was to crush the 1885 Northwest Rebellion.
Full Court Press to Deny Palestinians Statehood
Submitted on September 22, 2011Palestinians deserved and were ready for statehood 63 years ago. Washington, Israel, other detractors, and naysayers say not now.
How Pro-Israel is Stephen Harper's Government?
Submitted on September 22, 2011By Yves Engler - rabble.ca
Two-and-a-half months ago, Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird criticized the Palestinian statehood bid, labeling it a "public-relations" exercise. On Friday Harper reiterated this position. "Canada views the action as very regrettable and we will be opposing it..."
PAOLA ORTIZ: Deportation this Friday
Submitted on September 22, 2011for more information on how to put pressure on the government to keep Paola here:
http://www.solidarityacrossborders.org/en/paola-ortiz/francais-mise-a-jo...
Women's Housing March and Gentrifuckation Tour 2011
Submitted on September 21, 2011On September 17 a march by a number of local housing groups and allies was held through the downtown east side of Vancouver, targeting businesses trying to gentrify the area.
International Statement of Solidarity With Cuban Anti-Authoritarians: You Are Not Alone
Submitted on September 21, 2011Wednesday, September 21 2011 - Infoshop News
The Communist Party of Cuba's VI Congress has just closed with an endorsement of the liberal reforms (“to each according to his labors”) promised in the realm of the economy: but along with these come cuts in social services and an increased presence for the military and for technocrats in the machinery of government, with a reduction in the presence of intellectuals and workers.
Toronto in Review: September
Submitted on September 21, 2011The City Ducks Cuts; Unions Run for Cover and TIFF Recovers from 9/11
Debate over the Toronto District School Board’s decision allowing Muslim students to hold Friday prayer services continued Saturday, as pro and anti-prayer groups held simultaneous rallies at the TDSB central offices.
Inquiry into RCMP Killing of Native Falls Flat
Submitted on September 21, 2011Fight repression: disarm the ERT and disband the RCMP
In September 2009, an RCMP Emergency Response Team (ERT), accompanied by an officer from the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO), approached an isolated hunting cabin near the Kisgagas reserve, north of New Hazelton, in central BC.
Ban Ki-moon: A Record of Failure and Betrayal
Submitted on September 21, 2011Ban Ki-moon is an imperial tool.
Mocking the Dying While Profiting Off the Work of Uninsured Artists
Submitted on September 21, 2011By DAVE LINDORFF - September 21, 2011
The first thing that needs to be said to the heartless boneheads who, at the last Republican presidential debate, cheered at the idea of letting a hypothetical 30-year-old cancer victim who hadn’t bought health insurance die, is that this is no mere hypothetical situation...The morally challenged scum who heartily and heartlessly cheered for the death of a hypothetical 30-year-old were really cheering for the death of my friend, and millions like her.
Conservatives Invoke Back-to-Work Legislation to Help Air Canada Extort Concessions
Submitted on September 21, 2011By Keith Jones - WSWS
Bowing before the federal Conservative government’s threat to introduce strikebreaking legislation, the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) announced Tuesday afternoon that it had reached a tentative contract agreement with Air Canada covering 6,800 flight attendants and was, consequently, rescinding, a strike notice.
U.S. Republicans Submit Resolution Supporting Israel's Right to Annex West Bank
Submitted on September 21, 2011By Natasha Mozgovaya - Haaretz
U.S. Representative Joe Walsh (R-IL), introduced on Monday a resolution (with 30 co-sponsors) to support Israel’s right to annex the West Bank in the event that the Palestinian Authority continues to push for vote at the United Nations...["I]f the [Palestinian Authority] continues down this road of trying to get recognition of statehood, the U.S. will not stand for it. And we will respect Israel’s right to annex Judea and Samaria."
TODAY Georgia Executes Troy Davis (Two Articles)
Submitted on September 21, 2011It’s with rage that I report that the Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles on Tuesday denied clemency for Troy Anthony Davis. The 42-year-old Davis is now due to be executed TODAY, Wednesday September 21, at 7 pm. For those unfamiliar with the case, let’s be clear: Davis’s execution is little more than a legal lynching.
U.S. Night Raids Aimed at Afghan Civilians
Submitted on September 21, 2011By GARETH PORTER - Counterpunch
U.S. Special Operations Forces have been increasingly aiming their night-time raids, which have been the primary cause of Afghan anger at the U.S. military presence, at civilian non- combatants in order to exploit their possible intelligence value, according to a new study...The study provides new evidence of the degree to which the criteria used for targeting of individuals in night raids...[has] been loosened to include people who have not been identified as insurgents.
Obama and Netanyahu to Palestinians on Statehood: Go to Hell
Submitted on September 21, 2011Obama and Netanyahu won't tolerate Palestinian statehood.
Ford Falters: Build the September 26 Rally for Toronto
Submitted on September 21, 2011By Jesse McLaren - September 21, 2011
As Toronto Mayor Rob Ford confronts a second wave of deputations against the cuts, cracks are emerging in his austerity agenda. He has been forced to reduce and delay some cuts, while members of his executive are speaking out against others. This is a result of months of growing opposition, and the Rally for Toronto on September 26 can magnify the resistance for the weeks and months to come.
Farmer Market vendors and supporters unhappy about possible move
Submitted on September 21, 2011Councillors need more information: Cimino
A major controversy is shaping up in Sudbury’s downtown.
Conférence de presse: les groupes de femmes se joignent à Paola Ortiz pour exiger la suspension de sa déportation
Submitted on September 20, 2011POUR DIFFUSION IMMÉDIATE
Conférence de presse: les groupes de femmes se joignent à Paola Ortiz pour exiger la suspension de sa déportation
CONTACTS:
Julie Marcoux: 514-839-1657
How the Republican Party Is Like a Death Cult
Submitted on September 20, 2011By Chauncey DeVega - September 18, 2011
They cheer at the thought of an uninsured person dying. They cheer at the thought of state-sponsored murder. In all, the 2012 Tea Party Republican debates have revealed that they are a death cult...[I]n the age of Obama, contemporary conservatism has surrendered to a virulent, dystopian and pathologically hyper-individualist state of nature...[C]ontemporary conservatism has fully embraced a politics that are utterly and totally bereft of human empathy.
Together Against Political Repression
Submitted on September 20, 2011September 20, 2011 - CMAQ
We strongly condemn the most recent repressive offensive by the Montreal police (SPVM) whose aim is to criminalize, intimidate and isolate several political organizations. We also condemn the formation of a political police squad (entitled “GAMMA”) which is a unit of the SPVM’s organized crime division...Our freedom of association, demonstration and speech is not only legal, but legitimate. Our freedom to dissent is not something we beg for, but something we assert daily.
Obama's Former Pastor Recalls U.S. President's Fall from Grace
Submitted on September 20, 2011By Chris Hedges - September 19, 2011
“President Obama was selected before he was elected...and he is accountable to those who selected him. Why do you think Wall Street got the break? Why do you think the big three [financial institutions] were bailed out? Those were the ones who selected him. We didn’t select him. We don’t have enough money to select anybody...I’ll never forget one of the most powerful things he said to me in my home, second Saturday in April 2008. He said, ‘You know what your problem is?’ I said, ‘What is that?’ He said, ‘You have to tell the truth.’ I said, ‘That’s a good problem. That’s a good problem.’”
- Rev. Jeremiah Wright, Obama's former Pastor
The Carve-Up of Greece
Submitted on September 20, 2011By Barry Grey - 20 September 2011
Like a pack of wolves assembling for the kill, the global fraternity of bankers and speculators — whose semi-criminal operations precipitated the economic crisis and whose taxpayer bailouts bankrupted state treasuries — is now preparing to carve up Greece and turn the destruction of an entire society into a financial windfall for themselves.
What's Wrong with Harper's Omnibus Crime Bill
Submitted on September 20, 2011By Paula Mallea - September 20, 2011
Prime Minister Harper will be launching his tough-on-crime agenda today. Our criminal justice system is by no means perfect, but the omnibus crime bill will send us back to a 19th century punishment model. Here are some reasons why Canadians need to speak out against this legislation.
Abbas and Fayyad: Collaborationist Israeli Allies
Submitted on September 20, 2011Expect Abbas and Fayyad to betray their people as they always do.
U.S.-Canada Perimeter Security and the Consolidation of North America
Submitted on September 20, 2011By Dana Gabriel
The move towards a North American security perimeter is being done without congressional or parliamentary approval. There is no reason to trust that our governments will strike any kind of balance between security and freedom. That is why it is imperative that we demand more transparency and input. With a joint action plan expected to be released soon, it is my hope that Canadians and Americans will reject any perimeter security deal that reduces privacy rights and further puts our sovereignty at risk.
Hard Times Getting Harder
Submitted on September 20, 2011Americans are being hammered economically, politically and socially.
Australian "Labor" Government Repudiates International Law on Refugees
Submitted on September 20, 2011By Patrick O’Connor - 19 September 2011
The Labor government’s proposed amendments to the Migration Act and Immigration (Guardianship of Children) Act represent an unprecedented repudiation of all international and domestic legal norms governing the treatment of refugees...The legislation’s immediate purpose is to circumvent a High Court ruling issued on August 31 that struck down the government’s plan to deport hundreds of asylum seekers to Malaysia.
Death’s Cheerleaders
Submitted on September 20, 2011By KATHLEEN PEINE - Counterpunch
...[T]hose who would burn witches at the stake...didn’t disappear over the ages. We haven’t evolved past that. Those types just lie in wait, hoping for a chance to spread sanctimonious death. They hold a bible in one hand and their dick in the other, as they grimly masturbate to the death spectacle of the day.
Baby Deaths Spark Fears Over Antidepressants
Submitted on September 20, 2011By Kathy Tomlinson - September 20, 2011
Two B.C. families whose infants died inexplicably are sounding the alarm about mothers taking antidepressants while pregnant...Both mothers took Effexor, which Health Canada has warned can have adverse effects on babies...“I took the pills. I didn’t question. I trusted my doctor...”
Racist Israeli Foreign Minister in Vancouver
Submitted on September 19, 2011VANCOUVER - Welcomed into Canada, Israeli foreign minister Avigdor Lieberman addressed a full house at the Jewish Community Centre tonight.
Outside, a noisy demonstration pointed to Liebermann's many racist and extremist views and policies. The demonstration was organized by an adhoc coalition of community groups. From their press release:
Rage Against the System
Submitted on September 19, 2011Morally corrupted America needs tearing down and rebuilding.
Obama's Arc of Instability: Destabilizing the World One Region at a Time
Submitted on September 19, 2011By Nick Turse - September 19, 2011
It’s a story that should take your breath away: the destabilization of what...used to be called “the arc of instability.” It involves at least 97 countries, across the bulk of the global south, much of it coinciding with the oil heartlands of the planet. A startling number of these nations are now in turmoil, and in every single one of them...Washington is militarily involved, overtly or covertly, in outright war or what passes for peace.
Britain: Repression in Wales After Riots in England
Submitted on September 19, 2011By Tom Ainsworth - Green Left Weekly
The wave of riots in numerous English cities this August did not lead to widespread disruption anywhere in Wales...Despite this, several people in Wales have been arrested for riot related offences, some of whom have been denied bail and handed highly disproportionate sentences.
Islamophobia Goes to School in Toronto
Submitted on September 19, 2011By Mairin Piccinin - Toronto Media Co-op
A fringe coalition representing the Jewish Defense League (JDL), Christian Heritage Party (CHP) and the Canadian Hindu Advocacy (CHA) stood together in front of the Toronto District School Board (TDSB) central offices, protesting a decision by administrators at a Toronto middle school allowing Muslim students to hold Friday afternoon prayers in the school’s empty cafeteria.
Toronto Cops Taser Man Off Balcony
Submitted on September 19, 2011September 19, 2011 - CBC News
A tense standoff involving Toronto police ended with a man apparently being shocked by a Taser before plummeting from a balcony to the concrete below..."Why'd they use the Taser? I don't understand," said John Sewell from the citizen group Toronto Police Accountability Coalition. "Why didn't they continue to use negotiation and relax and bring him down?"
Photos from 5th Annual Women's Housing March
Submitted on September 19, 2011Balaclava! VMC Broadsheet Special Issue on Resistance to Pipelines and Tar Sands
Submitted on September 19, 2011By Vancouver Media Co-op - September 17, 2011
In this special edition of the VMC's broadsheet, we look at resistance to oil and natural gas pipelines, and the full spectrum of tar sands expansion in Vancouver and Burnaby (unceded Coast Salish Territories) and in Central BC (unceded Wetsu'wet'en territories).
Imperial Arrogance and Hypocrisy
Submitted on September 19, 2011Imperial America's war on humanity.
Bolivia: U.S. Worked to Divide Social Movements, WikiLeaks Shows
Submitted on September 19, 2011By Federico Fuentes - September 19, 2011
WikiLeaks' release of cables from the United States embassy in La Paz has shed light on its attempts to create divisions in the social and indigenous movements that make up the support base of the country’s first indigenous-led government...The cables prove the embassy sought to use the US government aid agency, USAID, to promote US interests.
Vancouverites to protest visit of Avigdor Lieberman: Israel's racist, extremist foreign minister
Submitted on September 19, 2011September 19, 2011
Nebraska Cornhusker Fans Chop Block Tarsands Pipeline
Submitted on September 19, 2011By Dave Zirin - Monday, September 19, 2011
At another sold-out football game in Lincoln last Saturday, an ad for the TransCanada Keystone oil pipeline played on the stadium's HuskerVision Jumbotron...At the end, came the notice that the video was "brought to you by The Husker Pipeline.” Tens of thousands of fans proceeded to swallow their beer, put down their food and boo. It was actually more than booing. It was more like loudly seething.
Brief Review of "Death of the Liberal Class"
Submitted on September 19, 2011By Manuel Garcia Jr. - Dissident Voice
Have you read Chris Hedges’ book Death of the Liberal Class, (2010)? It is a smooth compendium of the main ideas one might abstract from the last three years of CounterPunch articles...Hedges is writing about, and scolding, a class he is a member of; his moral outrage is probably systematized in his own mind by a conceptual framework learned earlier in the Christian ministry...and his smooth populist style of presentation...was honed in his career as a journalist (war correspondent).
NATO Bombs Kill Hundreds as Libyan "Rebel" Offensive Stalls
Submitted on September 19, 2011By Alex Lantier - 19 September 2011
NATO bombed cities across Libya over the weekend as fighting continued in Sirte and Bani Walid between troops loyal to Muammar Gaddafi and the NATO-backed forces of the National Transition Council (NTC)...There are mounting reports of casualties due to the NATO bombing. NATO spokesmen said yesterday that on Saturday NATO forces bombed 11 targets in Sirte, 11 in the nearby Al-Jufra oasis, and 3 in the city of Sabha, far to the south.
Deadline Extended: The Media Co-op Investigative Fund
Submitted on September 19, 2011$400 available for feature stories! Pitch today...
The Media Co-op has broken critical stories and probed issues glossed by the mainstream media. We've published exposés of Israeli and Canadian military collusion, the Canadian Boreal Forest Agreement, and the federal government’s European advocacy for the tar sands.
We’ve done this with the barest of resources.
MEDIA ADVISORY: Monday: Court hearing & press conference with mom of 2 Canadian kids facing deportation
Submitted on September 18, 2011FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE -- SEPTEMBER 17
MEDIA ADVISORY
Monday: Court hearing & press conference with mom of 2 Canadian kids facing deportation
CONTACTS:
Stewart Istvanffy, Paola Ortiz’s lawyer — 514-876-9776
Abbas Speech Signals Capitulation
Submitted on September 18, 2011Abbas revealed his collaborationist intentions, suggesting he'll accept less than what Palestinians waited decades for and deserve - statehood and full de jure UN membership they won't get as long as Abbas or collaborationists like him have power.
Islamophobia goes to school in Toronto
Submitted on September 18, 2011On Sept. 11, three religious groups set aside conflicting ideologies in a crusade against Islam in Toronto schools, for the third time in less than two months.
The Real Reason the U.S. Wanted Gaddafi Gone
Submitted on September 18, 2011By MURRAY DOBBIN - Counterpunch Weekend Edition
...[L]et’s be clear what we have accomplished. We got rid of one moderately nasty dictator. But we have eliminated a government which distributed its oil wealth more equally than any other Arab state, will impose on Libya a new market imperative, likely eliminating most social programs and making Libya less equal, may well end up with a government based on Islamic law...and have destroyed Africa’s best hope for independent development.
Obama Team Feared Coup If He Prosecuted Bush War Crimes
Submitted on September 18, 2011By Andrew Kreig - 09 September 2011
President-Elect Obama's advisors feared in 2008 that authorities would revolt and that Republicans would block his policy agenda if he prosecuted Bush-era war crimes, according to a law school dean who served as one of Obama's top transition advisers...[This] implies that Obama and his team fear the military/national security forces that he is supposed [to] be commanding.
Pharmaceutical Outsourcing
Submitted on September 18, 2011By Frazer Merritt - Z Magazine
Most U.S. citizens would be surprised to learn that the side effects and warnings for their prescription drugs...are only a brief summary of the drug manufacturer’s complete label. In addition the pharmaceutical companies don’t design the Patient Inserts, nor are they regulated or tested for accuracy by the [Food and Drug Administration]. Instead, pharmacies pay third-party corporations...to summarize the side effects.
European Extreme Rightists Flying to Israel to Participate in Violent Clashes with Palestinians
Submitted on September 18, 2011September 15, 2011 - Gush Shalom
The Occupied Territories are in danger of explosion, [with the] importation of provocative racists from France. Two months ago, the government made great effort to prevent the fly-in of Palestinians supporters, who had no intention of using violence. All the more, racists with declared violent intentions must be prevented from coming here.
China’s List of Billionaires Expands Again
Submitted on September 18, 2011By John Chan - WSWS
The [Chinese Communist Party] laid the basis for the rapid rise of billionaires and multi-millionaires through cheap state credit, infrastructure projects, government support for key industries, widespread privatization of state enterprises, opening of the economy to international capital, and above all, ruthless police-state repression of a massively expanding working class that provides the necessary cheap labour.
Palestine's Rocky Road to Statehood
Submitted on September 18, 2011The worst of all enemies often are traitors to a just cause. That in a word sums up Palestine's dilemma as loyalists count down to September's General Assembly meeting next week. The 11th hour. The moment of truth, looking more like disappointment, shame and betrayal.
Vancouver's Downtown Eastside Reels after Resident Falls to her Death on Hastings Street
Submitted on September 18, 2011By Dawn Paley - Vancouver Media Co-op
James Mickleson has lived in a small room on the 4th floor of the Regent Hotel for the past seven years. In that time he says he has seen 17 dead bodies in and around his building, lying in front of his door or in the alley near his house...On Friday, Mickleson witnessed something he won't forget for a long time. He saw Verna Simard fly out of a 6th floor window and hit the sidewalk in front of the Regent, head first.
DTES Reels after Resident Falls to her Death on Hastings Street
Submitted on September 17, 2011Life "gotten more harsh" for women living in SROs
James Mickleson has lived in a small room on the 4th floor of the Regent Hotel for the past seven years. In that time he says he has seen 17 dead bodies in and around his building, lying in front of his door or in the alley near his house.
Homes now, not condos!
Submitted on September 17, 2011The fifth annual women's march called for a boycott against gentrification
In the face of an onslaught of swanky condos and ritzy cafés that are moving into the downtown eastside, residents and supporters took to the streets on Saturday to defend their right to housing.
Canada 'Selling' Its Sovereignty Under Proposed Border Deal With U.S., Says Report
Submitted on September 17, 2011By Amy Chung and Jordan Press - September 15, 2011
The author of a report criticizing Canada's anticipated trade and security agreement with the United States says Canada is "selling" its sovereignty with no guarantee of a reduction of red tape at the border for Canadian business..."We've got a desperate attempt by the Canadian government to try to do something by selling basically the privacy rights of Canadians to the Americans, in order to get changes on the border."
Israeli Police State Crackdowns Against Palestinian Demonstrators
Submitted on September 17, 2011The U.S. First Amendment guarantees free assembly. No matter. Demonstrators for social, economic and political justice are assaulted and arrested. But Palestinians on their own land, in their own country, face much tougher crackdowns.
Women's Housing March and GentriFUCKation Tour
Submitted on September 17, 2011
DOWNTOWN EASTSIDE - More than 500 women and supporters snaked their way through Vancouver's Downtown Eastside today to mark the Fifth Annual Women' s Housing March.
A somber mood was set by the news of a well-known woman's suspicious death last night at the Regent Hotel on East Hastings.
Gone Digital: Access to Information on the Anarchist Movement
Submitted on September 17, 2011Balaclava! VMC Broadsheet
Submitted on September 17, 2011Special Issue on Resistance to Pipelines & Tar Sands
In this special edition of the VMC's broadsheet, we look at resistance to oil and natural gas pipelines, and the full spectrum of tar sands expansion in Vancouver and Burnaby (unceded Coast Salish Territories) and in Central BC (unceded Wetsu'wet'en territories).
Israel’s "Dangerous" Game: Taking on Turkey
Submitted on September 17, 2011By Ramzy Baroud - Dissident Voice
Turkey had no other option but to escalate before an obstinate ‘ally.’ And considering the latter’s existing isolation in the region – and the growing anti-Israeli sentiment in Egypt and elsewhere – it is likely that Israel, not Turkey, will lose out in this political tussle.
Planned Peacekeeper Occupation of Libya
Submitted on September 17, 2011Repressive Blue Helmets are coming to Libya.
Three Big Challenges Threatening the Arab Uprisings
Submitted on September 17, 2011By ESAM AL-AMIN - September 17-18, 2011
...[T]he popular uprisings sweeping much of the Arab world this year are facing three crucial predicaments. How the different sides in each political theatre deal with these critical issues will determine the future of these societies, as they undergo their genuine popular revolutions...Although each country has its own local conditions and special circumstances, there are many common factors facing the uprisings of the Arab spring.
Youth and Families Targeted for Collective Punishment Over UK Riots
Submitted on September 17, 2011By Paul Stuart - WSWS
Daniel Sartain-Clarke, 18, his mother and her eight-year-old daughter...are amongst thousands of victims of a campaign of reprisals in the wake of civil disturbances that erupted throughout England in August...Sartain-Clarke faces a long prison term on the flimsiest evidence. If he is sentenced, his family will be the first to be issued with an eviction order and will be driven from their council flat.
The Micmac Native Friendship Centre and North End Community Health Centre bid on the St. Pat's Alexandra school site.
Submitted on September 17, 2011Should Radicals Care About Unions?
Submitted on September 17, 2011By David Camfield - September 17, 2011
One of the most common mistakes is to equate high-level union officials...with unions. Unions are more than their official leaders: they are organizations with mass memberships. It's true that many unionized workers vote Tory, accept the idea that cuts are necessary and oppose the demand for status for all -- just like many non-unionized working-class people...But it's also true that in many unions there are often at least a few members who disagree with the timidity and conservatism of the officials at the top of most unions today.
Targeting Lawyers: America v. Paul Bergrin
Submitted on September 16, 2011Post-9/11, thousands of political prisoners languish unjustly behind bars or await trial. They include lawyers for challenging injustice, especially for defending the "wrong" clients after America declared war on humanity.
UN: Putting a Value on Haitian Life
Submitted on September 16, 2011By Yves Engler - September 13th, 2011
Rather than support calls for UN accountability, the NGOs jumped to the international organization’s defence. Highly dependent on Western government funding and political support, NGOs are overwhelmingly focused on a charitable model that fails to challenge the political or economic structures that cause the poverty and illness they seek to cure. But without political pressure the practices that engender poverty and illness will continue...
U.S. Scramble for Africa
Submitted on September 16, 2011By Conn Hallinan - Znet
Is current U.S. foreign policy in Africa following a blueprint drawn up almost eight years ago by the right-wing Heritage Foundation, one of the most conservative think tanks in the world? While it seems odd that a Democratic administration would have anything in common with the extremists at Heritage, the convergence in policy and practice between the two is disturbing.
Dangerous Ideas: Files from the Olympics Thought Police
Submitted on September 16, 2011In May, I requested my police files through the Privacy Act, and after over three months and a complaint to the Privacy Commissioner's Office, I received 44 pages of heavily redacted records.
Living with Disabilities in Austere Times
Submitted on September 16, 2011By Kelly White - Infoshop News
People living with disabilities know that their experiences of interdependence, of society and its power relationships, could not be less important to politicians. Instead, their lives and experiences are commonly reduced to essentialized biomedical limitations. The disabled and their allies know that the experience of disability can best be described as a process enacted through social relations; that every service society provides us with is the result of a fight — a refusal to accept less.
Libya: Jihadists Take Over, As Warned
Submitted on September 16, 2011By Julio Godoy - Sept. 8, 2011
The official euphoria with which the U.S. and European governments celebrated the fall of the regime of Muammar Gaddafi in Libya has given way to growing concern that many among the new Libyan leadership are radical Muslims with links to al-Qaeda. Revelations are surfacing also of a close collaboration of Western governments with the deposed dictator.
Face-Off: Palestine v. Washington/Israel on Statehood
Submitted on September 16, 2011Palestinian statehood is hanging by a thread.
Emergency Protest: Racist Israeli Settler Avigdor Lieberman Not Welcome in Vancouver
Submitted on September 16, 2011Date and time:
Monday, September 19, 2011 - 7:30pm
Location
Outside Avigdor Lieberman Speaking Event, Jewish Community Centre
950 West 41st Avenue (Near Oak Street)
Vancouver, BC Canada
See map: Google Maps
Cost:
Free
*Please note the time change to 7:30 PM*
The infamous Israeli Foreign Minister, Avigdor Lieberman, is coming to Canada this Monday! Avigdor Lieberman is not only the foreign minister of the state of Israel, which regularly violates international law by building settlements on occupied land, denying Palestinians' fundamental human rights, and engaging in siege and attacks on occupied Palestinians in Gaza, but is best known as an advocate of ethnic cleansing against Palestinians. Join us to say that Avigdor Lieberman, racist and terrorist, is not welcome here!
Aboriginal groups in Canada challenge tar sands projects
Submitted on September 16, 2011There's a growing grassroots movement against tar sands projects spreading across North America. In the face of industrial expansion, a group of Indigenous people from the Wet'suwet'en nation are determined to protect their lands. From Unist'hot'en territory near Smithers, British Columbia, Dawn Paley reports for Free Speech Radio News.
Toronto Mayor Ford Moves to Gut City Jobs and Services
Submitted on September 16, 2011By Ed Patrick - 16 September 2011
Since the explosion of the 2008 financial crisis, Toronto, Canada’s largest city and financial center, has become the site of an ever-widening assault on the working class. The city’s ruling elite and their representatives in Toronto’s municipal government are seeking to reverse generations of workers’ advances through job-cutting “buyouts,” layoffs, the expansion of user fees, transit fare increases, cuts to public services, contracting-out and privatization.
Fighting for the Right to Strike
Submitted on September 16, 2011By Mick Sweetman - September 12, 2011
This past year has witnessed a renewed assault on unionized workers that should be seen for what it is: a coordinated attack on the right of workers to collectively bargain with their employers...Legislation that strips workers of our right to strike is designed to attack the fundamental weapon we have — the power to withdraw our labour. It is designed to take control out of our hands as rank and file union members and place it solely in the hands of professional union negotiators and government arbitrators.
NDP Leadership Campaign Begins
Submitted on September 15, 2011By Keith Jones - 14 September 2011
Brian Topp, the president of the New Democratic Party (NDP), has become the first declared candidate in the race to succeed the late Jack Layton as federal NDP leader...Topp, who became party president in June...has only had a modest public profile till now. But he was among Layton’s closest and most-trusted advisers and has longstanding ties to both the party officialdom and the trade union bureaucracy.
In Wake of British Riots, Australia Preparing for Youth Unrest
Submitted on September 15, 2011By Will Morrow - WSWS
While the public is continually told that Australia is “insulated” from the global economic crisis, the political and security establishment is conscious and fearful of the politically explosive implications of mounting job cuts, inequality and social distress, and preparing to use similar repressive measures as their counterparts internationally.
Conspiracy in the Age of Austerity
Submitted on September 15, 2011By Alex Hundert - September 12, 2011
Today is the first day of what is scheduled to be an 11 week preliminary inquiry for what the Ontario Crown...calls, the G20 Main Conspiracy Group Prosecution...The Crown will allege that we are somehow responsible for the confrontational demonstrations, including those of the black bloc, which occurred on June 26 2010. It will not be alleged that any of us actually participated in those demonstrations...Their only allegation will be that we “conspired” to do things. For this they want to give us serious jail time.
New York Times: Railing Against Palestinian Statehood
Submitted on September 15, 2011Longstanding Times policy supports wealth and power; war, not peace; US hegemony and imperial rampaging; and all things benefiting Israel.
Obama’s Shameful Silence in the Face of the Murder of Young American by Israel
Submitted on September 15, 2011By DAVE LINDORFF - September 15, 2011
Among the many shameful and cowardly things that President Barack Obama has and has not done, few can rival his complete unwillingness to express outrage at the Israeli military’s murder of a young American teen executed at close range during the Israeli Defense Force assault on the Turkish-flagged aid ship the Mavi Marmara in international waters in the Mediterranean Sea back on May 31, 2010.
'Oral Health, Total Health': Providing Oral Care for Persons with Special Needs
Submitted on September 15, 2011Citizens' Town Hall Rejects Wider Bayers Road
Submitted on September 15, 2011Several hundred people packed a community meeting last night to oppose a municipal plan to widen Bayers Road. With a few exceptions, the crowd criticized the plan, which would widen the road from three to four lanes in some parts and from four to six lanes closer to the Bicentennial Highway (Highway 102).
Bling is Dead
Submitted on September 15, 2011Interview with Sakura Saunders & Testament
Sakura Saunders of ProtestBarrick.net and rapper Testament are in East Van gearing up for a performance Friday night at the Rhizome Café.
Israeli/Turkish/Palestinian Tensions
Submitted on September 14, 2011For Turkey, relations have deteriorated for years. Cast Lead exacerbated them. So did murdering nine Turkish nationals on May 31, 2010, aboard the Mavi Marmara humanitarian aid ship.
Imperialist Powers Increase Threats Against Syria
Submitted on September 14, 2011By Niall Green - 13 September 2011
The same imperialist powers that have just imposed regime change on Libya through a six-month NATO bombing campaign...are now setting their sights on Syria, hoping that they can employ a similar strategy there...The Syrian Revolution General Commission, an umbrella group of opposition organizations, issued the call for Western military backing to aid their efforts against the Assad regime.
Anti-Israeli Friction Helps Palestinians
Submitted on September 14, 2011Change doesn't always work out, but when intolerable conditions exist, trying for something better is key. It holds for Palestinians wanting freedom from Israel's repressive occupation. Statehood and full de jure UN membership is step one toward it, though no guarantee.
Implications of Palestinian Statehood
Submitted on September 14, 2011Mahmoud Abbas appears heading for denying his people statehood and full de jure UN membership.
Murdered by UK Cops: Hundreds Attend Funeral for Mark Duggan
Submitted on September 14, 2011By Zach Reed - 12 September 2011
The funeral of Mark Duggan was held in North London on September 9. Hundreds gathered to pay their respects to the 29-year-old father of four, whose death at the hands of police on August 4 sparked riots in several cities in England.
Anti-Israeli Rage in Egypt
Submitted on September 14, 2011On August 18, Israel aggressively entered Sinai, killing five Egyptian security force members and injuring seven others.
The "War of Terror" Decade
Submitted on September 14, 2011By Anthony Arnove - September 13, 2011
The balance sheet of the last 10 years is grim. It would have to include the immense loss of life in Iraq and Afghanistan; the millions displaced by the invasions and their aftermath; the deaths of the working class youth, mostly from rural areas, sent to kill and die in Afghanistan and Iraq for no reason; the impact on the communities and families torn apart by these traumas; the erosions of civil liberties; and much else.
What Passes for Journalism and Opinion in America
Submitted on September 14, 2011America's major media suppress 9/11 and Libya war truths.
9/11: Echoes of the Big Lie
Submitted on September 14, 2011With echoes of 9/11's commemoration still audible, Obama and his NATO co-conspirators can revel in the carnage they caused.
Another Century of War
Submitted on September 14, 20119/11 launched permanent U.S. wars on humanity.
Vendors, Shoppers and Anti-Capitalists: Reflections on the Victoria Anarchist Bookfair
Submitted on September 14, 2011Last weekend I went to the sixth annual Victoria Anarchist Bookfair, and spent a good part of the weekend there observing the goings on around me.
The meaning of the word “slut”
Submitted on September 14, 2011The Halifax SlutWalk seeks to shift the blame of sexual assaults from the victim to the perpetrator
Slut or slattern is a pejorative term applied to an individual who is considered to have loose sexual morals or who is sexually promiscuous. The term is generally applied to women and is an insult or offensive term of disparagement, meaning “dirty of slovenly.”
—Oxford English Dictionary
Get the September TIDE fresh from the net.
Submitted on September 14, 2011México, 15 de Septiembre: Ni independencia, ni democracia
Submitted on September 13, 2011Mexico, September the 15th: Neither Independence, nor Democracy
(English below)
México, 15 de Septiembre: Ni independencia, ni democracia.
The Loud Parade to Elected Violence
Submitted on September 13, 2011Guatemala and the Voting-in of a Strong Man General
The following story was written for the Media Co-op by the Reverend Emilie Smith, who was active for many years in Vancouver's Downtown East Side. She is currently residing in Guatemala.
Mosque Talk. Part 2.
Submitted on September 13, 2011In Which We Continue Our Conversation on Being Muslim in Halifax.
Please see the first part of this audio conversation, and then continue here.
Fighting for the Right to Strike
Submitted on September 12, 2011This past year has witnessed a renewed assault on unionized workers that should be seen for what it is: a coordinated attack on the right of workers to collectively bargain with their employers.
Conspiracy in the Age of Austerity
Submitted on September 12, 2011Mosque Talk. Part 1.
Submitted on September 11, 2011In Which We Head to the Mosque, to Talk of Terror, of Peace, and of Other Things.
National news sources are now inundated with ten-year dedications to 9/11. They seem less like a memorial, and more like an effort to justify a decade-long traipse down the oh-so-very-wrong path.
The so-called 'War on Terror' has bankrupted America, and has increasingly militarized our own Canadian economy, with no end in sight.
Palestinian Statehood: Now's the Time
Submitted on September 10, 2011Palestinians worldwide want Palestinian statehood. So do supporters and up to 140 countries. They comprise more than enough to ensure it and full de jure UN membership.
Mostly Water Downtime
Submitted on September 10, 2011Mostly Water will taking a brief respite for some routine maintenance and a few day's break. While MW will still be on-line as per usual, submissions may take longer than normal to post.
MW should be back sometime around the middle/end of next week (September 14-16).
On the Dangers of American Empire and Why the U.S. Continues to be Bin Laden's Best Ally
Submitted on September 10, 2011By Noam Chomsky - September 6, 2011
Perhaps the assassination [of bin Laden] was perceived by the administration as an “act of vengeance”...Whatever the motive was, it could hardly have been security. As in the case of the “supreme international crime” in Iraq, the bin Laden assassination is another illustration of the important fact that security is often not a high priority for state action, contrary to received doctrine.
Obama Style Stimulus
Submitted on September 10, 2011More Obama handouts to corporate favorites and the super-rich.
New York and Washington in Security Lock Down on 9/11 Anniversary
Submitted on September 10, 2011By Patrick Martin - WSWS
Like similar alerts issued over the past ten years, under both the Bush and Obama administrations, the warning seemed calculated more to cause public unease than anything else, since the threat was undefined and effectively unavoidable...Friday wore on with no additional information, but plenty of heavy-handed security action. Police searched vehicles crossing the Brooklyn Bridge in New York City, and roadblocks and checkpoints were set up throughout the city in time for the morning rush hour.
Cheney, Harper and the Misuses of 9/11
Submitted on September 10, 2011By Derrick O'Keefe - September 10, 2011
Rather than being ‘the day that changed everything’, as the cliché goes, 9/11 was more like the day when a disgusting crime provided a new pretext for existing reactionary trends. And so followed military occupations or interventions in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Somalia, Yemen and beyond, as well as torture at Guantanamo, Bagram and Abu Ghraib...War, torture, ‘extraordinary rendition’ – this is what defines their post-9/11 legacy.
Toronto Attempts to Block "Stop the Cuts" Public Gathering: Meeting to Go Ahead Despite Threats
Submitted on September 9, 2011September 9, 2011 - Toronto Stop the Cuts Network
In a blatantly anti-democratic move that smacks of Rob Ford’s authoritarianism, Toronto City is attempting to stop the Mass Meeting to Stop Ford’s Cuts from taking place. The city is shutting down programming at Dufferin Grove Park, where the meeting is scheduled from 12pm to 5pm on Saturday, September 10. Organizers from the Toronto Stop the Cuts Network say they are expecting thousands of residents to attend, to write a Toronto Declaration, ‘a vision [that] the Toronto people need and deserve’.
Allegedly Foiling Jerusalem Terrorist Attacks
Submitted on September 9, 2011Israel is pulling out all the stops to deny legitimate Palestinian rights. The August 18 bus and other attacks, killing and wounding Israelis, appeared very likely to be another strategically timed Israeli false flag.
The Irvine 11
Submitted on September 9, 2011Orange County (California) is a hotbed of right-wing extremism, reflected in its district attorney, acting more like an Israeli enforcer than defender of constitutional rights.
NATO-Backed Libyan Regime Persecutes Black Africans
Submitted on September 9, 2011By Peter Symonds - WSWS
The widespread racist persecution of immigrant African workers and black Libyans by forces opposed to Libyan ruler Colonel Muammar Gaddafi is a damning indictment of Libya’s National Transitional Council (NTC) and its Western backers...As well as killing and maiming civilians through its relentless bombing, NATO bears responsibility for the arbitrary arrest, physical abuse or extra-judicial killings of thousands of black Africans by its NTC proxies.
Hail to the True Victors of Rupert's Revolution
Submitted on September 9, 2011By John Pilger - September 09, 2011
This is Rupert's Revolution...Gone from the Murdoch press are pejorative "insurgents". The action in Libya...is "a revolution... as revolutions used to be". That it is a coup by a gang of Muammar Gaddafi's ex cronies and spooks in collusion with NATO is hardly news. The self-appointed "rebel leader", Mustafa Abdul Jalil, was Gaddafi's feared justice minister. The CIA runs or bankrolls most of the rest, including America's old friends, the Mujadeen Islamists who spawned al-Qaeda.
Aquaculture issues fill the courtroom
Submitted on September 9, 2011This blog post was written for the VMC by Elena Edwards.
On September 7, all 130 seats in Room 801 of the Federal Courthouse were filled for the second time since the Cohen Commission’s federal Inquiry into the Decline of the Fraser River Sockeye Salmon commenced last October 25th, 2010.
Canadians with Mental Illness Denied Entry to U.S.
Submitted on September 9, 2011By Sarah Bridge - September 9, 2011
More than a dozen Canadians have told the Psychiatric Patient Advocate Office in Toronto within the past year that they were blocked from entering the United States after their records of mental illness were shared with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security...According to diplomatic cables released earlier this year by WikiLeaks, any information entered into the national Canadian Police Information Centre (CPIC) database is accessible to American authorities.
Transit can be a more moving experience than road widening
Submitted on September 9, 2011There's no way to get around it. Metro needs better transit.
Files attached to this post:
My Trip to DEFSEC!
Submitted on September 8, 2011There's something vaguely unnerving about enjoying a beer, non-alcoholic of course, on Lockheed Martin's tab. But at times like this, which is in fact the Lockheed Martin-sponsored 'Hour of Good Cheer' at the DEFSEC conference in Halifax, sometimes it's easier just to go with the flow.
Israel Makes Military Preparations for UN vote on Palestinian State
Submitted on September 8, 2011By Danny Richardson - WSWS
The [Israel Defence Forces] is training settler “security squads” in the West Bank and preparing to arm them with stun grenades and tear gas ahead of an expected yes vote for Palestinian statehood in the United Nations General Assembly later this month...The military preparations...include the determination of “red lines” or boundaries for each settlement in the West Bank. Should Palestinian protesters cross the red line, troops will be authorized to open fire
Boycott Sequel 138: Protest Against High-Price Condos in the DTES
Submitted on September 8, 2011A bright sunny morning saw 50 people gather outside Tinseltown mall to protest gentrification and the infectious spread of high-price condominiums in the Downtown East Side (DTES).
The demonstration kicked off the Boycott Sequel 138 project: a move to stop the development of condos in the DTES that is pushing low-income communities out of the area.
Washington Longshore Workers Attack Grain Terminal
Submitted on September 8, 2011September 8 2011 - Libcom
In a dispute over the new EGT Grain Terminal in Longview, Washington and management's refusal to recognize the International Longshore and Warehouse Union as the workers' representative, union militants attacked the facility to sabotage the facility's first shipment of grain, protesting in defiance of a court injunction.
Systematic Israeli State Terror
Submitted on September 8, 2011Despite his own cross to bear, Turkey's Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan got it right calling Israel responsible for "state terror."
Salvadorans Struggle Against Canadian Mining Firm
Submitted on September 8, 2011By Sherwood Ross - September 08, 2011
Farmers along the banks of El Salvador’s Lempa River believe tomatoes gleam brighter than gold. They would rather put the river to work for farming, fishing, and drinking than to allow the multinational Vancouver-based Pacific Rim Mining Co. of Canada use the river water to extract the rich veins of gold buried nearby---a process that involves applying toxic cyanide-laced water to separate gold from the surrounding rock.
"Harper Government" Orders Canadian Embassies to Display Portrait of British Queen
Submitted on September 8, 2011CBC News - September 8, 2011
Prime Minister Stephen Harper's government has taken several steps recently to entrench the monarchy as one of the country's most important heritage symbols...In late June, [Foreign Affairs Minister John] Baird ordered two historic paintings by Quebec master Alfred Pellan replaced with a portrait of the Queen in the reception area of his department.
Condo Buyers Shun 'Sequel 138': Boycott Launched Against Pantages Development
Submitted on September 8, 2011By Stop Pantages Condos Coalition - September 7, 2011
Over 40 organizations and 1200 [Downtown Easatside] residents have signed a DTES Community Resolution opposing condos at the old Pantages Theatre site. The resolution calls on the City [of Vancouver] to stop the Sequel 138 development permit application, buy the Pantages parcel at its assessed value, and designate it for 100% resident controlled social housing with low-income community space on the ground floor.
U.S. Plans to Keep Thousands of Troops in Iraq
Submitted on September 8, 2011By Bill Van Auken - WSWS
Whatever the precise purpose of the proposal to limit the post-2011 US military presence to 3,000 troops, the Obama administration and the Pentagon have no intention of loosening the US grip on Iraq or abandoning the goals that drove the US war in the first place. Just as the Bush administration before it, it is determined to pursue US hegemony over the strategic oil-rich region, and to secure a lasting military presence as a means of defending its control.
10 Revolting TV Shows That Need to Die
Submitted on September 8, 2011By Julianne Escobedo Shepherd - AlterNet
The United States has roughly 2,218 broadcast stations, and 98 percent of households own at least one TV — and it’s not going away, as even people without televisions still watch their favorite shows on-line. Many of those shows are politically reactionary. Here are 10 of the most politically revolting shows that are both wildly popular... and need to get off the air, ASAP.
For the Love of Israel: U.S. Congresswoman’s Misguided War on the UN
Submitted on September 8, 2011By Ramzy Baroud - Dissident Voice
[Ileana] Ros-Lehtinen’s resume is a distressing read. The congresswoman “endorses US imperial wars, police state laws, corporate empowerment, tax cuts for the rich, laying waste to Libya, perhaps a second Bay of Pigs, and Israeli lawlessness, while, at the same, opposing Palestinian statehood...”
In defense of accessible education
Submitted on September 7, 2011On September 6th, Montreal Gazette columnist Henry Aubin published, A taste of the Tea Party in Quebec.
Ontario Court of Appeals hearing arguments on police consulting lawyers before writing notes
Submitted on September 7, 2011Justice for Levi campaign call for supporters to attend court
On Wednesday September 7th the Ontario Court of Appeals began three days of hearings on whether police should be allowed to consult a lawyer before writing their notes. The Family of the deceased Levi Schaeffer was one of the groups bring the matter before the courts.
America's Sick Economy
Submitted on September 7, 2011America's economy is sick and getting sicker. Since 2008, working households have struggled through the early stages of a protracted global depression, getting worse. While corporate profits recovered, workers experienced growing poverty, homelessness, hunger, and high unemployment.
Israel Deports Children to Preserve "Jewish Character" of State
Submitted on September 7, 2011By Jillian Kestler-D'Amours - 1 September 2011
In July 2009, the Israeli government announced its intention to deport 1,200 children of undocumented migrant workers. After a great deal of criticism, an inter-ministerial committee finally approved the deportation of 400 children in August last year, while the remaining 800 were told they could apply for permanent status in Israel if they met certain requirements.
Israeli Oppression Continues While Talking Peace
Submitted on September 7, 2011Israel's lawless hypocrisy is shameless given what goes on daily - bombings, killings, mass arrests, settlement expansions, dispossessions, and other civil and human rights abuses on an ongoing basis.
Libya for Libyans
Submitted on September 7, 2011By ZOLTAN GROSSMAN - September 7, 2011
...[T]oppling a murderous dictator should not be a rationale for imposing Western domination. The most important period in the Libya War is not during the fighting, but after the fighting ceases, because that is when we will see if Libya will continue as a truly independent country, or follow the path of Iraq and Afghanistan.
Condo Buyers Shun ‘Sequel 138’; Boycott Launched against Pantages Development
Submitted on September 7, 2011Press Conference: Thursday, Sept 8th @ 11:00 am International Village, 2nd floor, Unit 2097 Vancouver, Unceded Coast Salish Territory
“Purchasing a condo at Sequel 138 is unethical because of the harmfulimpacts it will have on people in the neighbourhood.” Britta Fluevog, DTES artists and potential condo buyer.
3 Days to Take Toronto Back! [Video]
Submitted on September 7, 2011Tuesday, September 6, 2011 - Ontario Coalition Against Poverty
Millionaire Rob Ford, and right wing councilors at Toronto City Hall are meeting on September 19, in an executive committee meeting to recommend cuts to public services and job lay offs [of] upwards of $800 million dollars...Public services for many of us are the difference between abject poverty, and just being able to get by. We do not want cuts, we want more services!...These cuts are about poor bashing. They are about further displacing people of color and indigenous people...It is time to TAKE TORONTO BACK.
Worker Power in an Age of Uneven Austerity
Submitted on September 7, 2011By Steven Tufts and Mark Thomas - September 6, 2011
A first step is for labour activists to escape the intellectual traps of 'age of austerity' generalizations and recognize that some workers and unions have power, though these workers may not be in the traditional sites of working-class organization. In this context, unions will doubtlessly have a role in new working-class formations; they just may not represent workers from the same sectors that lead the way in the past.
Disability Benefits Under Threat in UK
Submitted on September 7, 2011By Eileen Hyland - WSWS
Under the guise of getting people back into employment by calculating their “fitness to work”, the Conservative/Liberal-Democrat coalition is reassessing disabled recipients of benefits in an attempt to slash the social security budget...Over the next three years, one-and-a-half million people will be put through these tests. To carry out this attack, they have engaged Atos Healthcare, a branch of a huge multinational conglomerate on a £500 million contract.
U.S. Conservative Columnist Says Poor People Shouldn’t Vote
Submitted on September 7, 2011By Emily Crockett - AlterNet
[Matthew] Vadum’s conspiracy-theory nonsense...[is] a stomach-churning argument that dismisses the disadvantaged and the unemployed as pawns whose interests don’t matter. While Vadum’s argument is extreme, it sheds an ugly light on conservative motives for passing restrictive Voter ID laws. Such laws disproportionately affect low-income persons as well as young people, people of color, older Americans, and the disabled.
Western Canadian Energy Ministries "Collaborate" in Secret with Petroleum Cartel to Develop Fracking Policies
Submitted on September 7, 2011Vancouver - Through top-down deregulatory and environmental streamlining directives under the recently formed New West Partnership, the British Columbia, Alberta and Saskatchewan Ministries of Energy (for oil and gas) held four or more secret meetings since July 2011 to develop “joint action on issues related to unconventional shale gas development” c
Wikileaks Cables Reveal U.S. Embassy Works with Venezuelan Private Media
Submitted on September 7, 2011By Tamara Pearson - September 07, 2011
The U.S. ambassador to Venezuela, Patrick Duddy, met with Venezuelan private media companies El Nacional, Globovision, and the Cisneros Group, to discuss their political content with them and El Nacional asked the U.S embassy for funding, according to cables written by the U.S embassy in Caracas and published by Wikileaks.
"Anti-Capitalist Party" in France Applauds Libya War
Submitted on September 6, 2011By Kumaran Ira - 6 September 2011
France’s New Anti-Capitalist Party (NPA) has applauded NATO's war to topple the regime of Colonel Muammar Gaddafi in Libya, praising it as a victory for democracy...The NPA’s claim that the ouster of the Gaddafi regime by NATO’s imperialist intervention is “good news,” let alone a “revolutionary process,” is a reactionary political lie.
The Tar Sands Action in Washington D.C.
Submitted on September 6, 2011By Ted Glick - Znet Commentary
...[F]or those who are turned off by all of [the Obama] administration’s many betrayals of his campaign promises and unsure of what they’ll be doing about the Presidential election, and for those who have had it with both Republicans and Democrats, the campaign to defeat the Keystone XL pipeline is a classic unifying issue, an urgent issue. The next few months are key.
Is Syria Next?
Submitted on September 6, 2011America's business isn't just war and grand theft. It's also regime change by whatever means.
Anti-Austerity Strike Hits Italy
Submitted on September 6, 201106 September 2011 - Al Jazeera
Italy's largest trade union has mounted a general strike in opposition to government plans to tackle an austerity crisis...The eight-hour action called by CGIL, which represents 6 million workers, disrupted public transport and air traffic, and most government offices closed for the day..."These austerity measures are also irresponsible, they are measures that dump on the worker, on the public workers, all the costs of this crisis and this difficult financial situation..."
Media Manipulation of 9/11 Truth
Submitted on September 6, 2011In February 2003, a Florida Court of Appeals unanimously ruled for Fox News, saying no rule or law prohibits distorting or falsifying news.
11th MMC Radio Segment/11e segment radiophonique de la Coop média de Montréal
Submitted on September 6, 2011Entrevue avec Jacques du MAC (Mouvement Action Chômage) à propos des agences de placement temporaire
Reportage de Melissa Albiani
http://halifax.mediacoop.ca/audio/who-wasnt-working-labour-day-2011/8096
The NFL Will Remember 9/11 in All the Wrong Ways
Submitted on September 6, 2011By Dave Zirin - September 6, 2011
Ten years ago, on the first Sunday after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, the [National Football League] did something truly heroic and generous: nothing...As 9/11 morphed into a decade-long “Global War on Terror,” the league has, to put it mildly, failed to show similar restraint. From the now ubiquitous presence of military flyovers and honor guards at every game, to the armed forces recruitment stations set up outside pre-season contests...the league has treated our era of endless war as an odious exercise in corporate branding.
Libyan Rebel Commander Admits Fighters Have Al-Qaeda Links
Submitted on September 6, 2011By Praveen Swami, Nick Squires and Duncan Gardham - March 25, 2011
In an interview with the Italian newspaper Il Sole 24 Ore, Mr al-Hasidi admitted that he had recruited "around 25" men from the Derna area in eastern Libya to fight against coalition troops in Iraq. Some of them, he said, are "today...on the front lines in Adjabiya"...[He] insisted his fighters "are patriots and good Muslims, not terrorists," but added that the "members of al-Qaeda are also good Muslims and are fighting against the invader".
Assault on Democratic Rights in UK After Riots
Submitted on September 6, 2011By Robert Stevens - 6 September 2011
An unprecedented assault on democratic rights has been mounted in the month since the outbreak of rioting in several major British cities...Since then, hysterical press coverage and bloodthirsty calls for retribution have been the order of the day...The Metropolitan [London] Police have said that they plan to arrest around 30,000 people. To this end, plans are in place to vastly expand prisons, which have now reached full capacity.
Imperial Delusions: Ignoring the Lessons of 9/11
Submitted on September 6, 2011By ROBERT JENSEN - September 5, 2011
...I feel no satisfaction in being part of the anti-war/anti-empire movement. Being right means nothing if we failed to create a more just foreign policy conducted by a more humble nation...Ten years later, I feel the same thing that I felt on 9/11 — an indescribable grief over the senseless death of that day and of days to come.
Report Recommends Repression to Reign in Canuck Rioters
Submitted on September 6, 2011By Gord Hill - Vancouver Media Co-op
...[T]he report recommends methods for more effective crowd control in the future, including greater dispersal of crowds, bans on alcohol sales, and joint training of regional police forces. It is most certainly the sheer scale of destruction that occurred and the jubilant participation by thousands of people that has authorities scrambling to find more effective methods of suppressing such disturbances, while also appearing to be successful in identifying and punishing those that did participate.
Justice for Levi Campaign Update
Submitted on September 6, 2011Family seeks justice for a man killed by Ontario Police
From September 7-9th, the family and supporters of Levi Schaffer, a man killed by Ontario Provincial Police officers in 2009, will be at the Ontario Court of Appeal in Toronto, fighting for greater police accountability relating to incidents when someone is seriously injured or killed. This report was produced for the upcoming edition of Groundwire radio news.
Innocent Traveler Stuck on Airline Watch List
Submitted on September 6, 2011By Kathy Tomlinson - CBC News
A Saskatoon man is fed up with being stopped every time he tries to fly within Canada — mistakenly flagged as a security threat — because he has a similar name to someone on a no-fly list...[Ahmad] Ali is a programmer and analyst with the University of Saskatchewan who said he’s been delayed a dozen times boarding flights since 2008. He said the RCMP told him there is a similar name to his on a watch list.
Libya: Here We Go Again
Submitted on September 5, 2011We have, as always happens in war, become the monster we sought to defeat. We destroy in order to save. Libya’s ruling National Transitional Council estimates that the number of Libyans killed in the last six months...has exceeded 50,000. Our intervention, as in Iraq and Afghanistan, has probably claimed more victims than those killed by the former regime. But this intervention [was never]...about protecting or saving Libyan lives. It was about the domination of oil fields by Western corporations.
Lawlessness and Injustice Define America and Israel
Submitted on September 5, 2011America and Israel are out-of-control rogues states.
Productivity is for Chumps: Don’t Take a Piss Without Getting Paid
Submitted on September 5, 2011Larry Ellison produces more in a relaxing 20-minute morning dump than you produce in a day.
Workers on Labour Day
Submitted on September 5, 2011'Capitalism isn't working for Workers', but workers are rallying for change.
The September 5th 2011 Labour Day march, rally and BBQ brought hundreds of people throughout the day to the South Commons in Halifax. The annual event is organized by the Halifax-Dartmouth and District Labour Council.
After the march from Victoria Park to the Commons, all ages stayed for speeches by Megan Leslie, Darrell Dexter, Kyle Buott, and Rick Clarke.
Report Recommends Repression to Reign in Canuck Rioters
Submitted on September 5, 2011The official report on the June 15 Canuck's Riot was released on Sept. 1, with the odd title “The Night the City Became a Stadium.” Costing more than $313,000, the report was co-written by Douglas Keefe, a former deputy minister in Nova Scotia, and John Furlong, former head of the Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympics (VANOC).
Australian "Labor" Politician Offered to Write Op-Ed on Cuba for U.S. Embassy, Says WikiLeaks Cable
Submitted on September 5, 2011By Simon Butler - Green Left Weekly
A WikiLeaks cable released on August 29 has revealed federal Labor MP for Melbourne Michael Danby offered to help the US embassy promote a “Day of Solidarity with the Cuban People”. It was a May 21 2008 initiative of the George W Bush US administration designed to pressure the Cuban government.
Western Powers Sights Set On Syria
Submitted on September 5, 2011By Jean Shaoul - WSWS
Having achieved regime change in Libya through military intervention, the Western powers and their regional allies now have Syria firmly in their sights as part of their plans for re-dividing the resource-rich Middle East...They are intent on using the six-month long protests and civil conflict that the Baathist regime of President Bashar al-Assad has brutally suppressed...to unseat Assad in favour of a more pliant tool of US imperialism.
Cuba Refuses to Recognize the Transitional National Council in Libya
Submitted on September 5, 2011By the Cuban Foreign Ministry - September 3, 2011
The Republic of Cuba does not recognize the Transitional National Council...and will only recognize a government established in Libya in a legitimate manner, without foreign intervention, through the free, sovereign, and common will of the brother people of Libya...Under the grotesque pretense of protecting civilians, NATO has murdered thousands of them...The Foreign Ministry demands the immediate end to NATO bombings...and reiterates the urgent need to permit the Libyan people to find a peaceful negotiated solution...
Happy Corporation Day!
Submitted on September 5, 2011By PAUL CRAIG ROBERTS - Counterpunch
Labor Day is an anachronism. It should be renamed Corporation Day or War Day to celebrate the success of Bush/Obama in eliminating labor unions as a countervailing power to corporate power and the elevation of War as the highest goal of the American state.
Labour Day Warning: If You Want Your Union and Your Rights, You'd Better be Prepared to Fight to Keep Them
Submitted on September 5, 2011By David J. Climenhaga - September 5, 2011
This Labour Day in Canada, unions and the fundamental right of working people to be represented by them face an existential threat. Elected union leaders seem for the most part not to be prepared for this reality...As in southern Europe and the United States, the people who have in the past decade brought us bank failures, recession and declining economies are massing their not inconsiderable forces to further weaken the union movement in Canada.
No One Arrested at Keystone XL Protest in Halifax
Submitted on September 4, 2011HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA - On Friday, September 2nd, approximately 20 protestors showed up in front of the US consulate's office, located in Purdy's Wharf, Tower II.
UN Issues Apologia for Israeli Massacre on Gaza Aid Ship
Submitted on September 4, 2011By Robert Stevens - WSWS
The United Nations report on the assault on the Mavi Marmara humanitarian ship is a whitewash of the May 2010 massacre by Israeli military forces...The vessel was part of a Gaza-bound aid flotilla and was in international waters when Israeli commandos raided it and brutally murdered eight defenseless Turkish citizens and a Turkish American.
Libya, Inc.: Coming Waste, Fraud and Other Forms of Plunder on a Grand Scale
Submitted on September 4, 2011Like in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere, wherever America and its Western allies show up, pillaging is sure to follow.
Dead on Arrival: A Critical Assessment of the Days of Action Against Harris (1995-1998)
Submitted on September 4, 2011By Gerard Lefebvre - September 3, 2011
...[T]he [Days of Action] against Harris can only really be called a failure – if an instructive and ultimately useful one. The moment was not seized and Harris felt safe in pursuing his class-war agenda. There was a glimmer of possibility, of widespread frustration and dissent lying beneath the surface of daily life – and it burst forth for a moment, only to be shoved back into the corner by a union leadership too afraid to rock the boat.
Top Picks at the Vancouver Latin American Film Fest
Submitted on September 4, 2011There's still another week left in the Vancouver Latin American Film Festival.
Yesterday, I ended up watching the Venezuelan film Hermano, and it might just be the best dramatic feature I've seen this year. If you have the chance, check it out.
How Wall Street Fleeces America: Privatized Banking, Government Collusion and Class War
Submitted on September 4, 2011Stephen Lendman's new book on banker occupation of America.
30,000 Bombs Over Libya
Submitted on September 4, 2011By THOMAS C. MOUNTAIN - Counterpunch
So far the Al Queda lead rebel fighters and the west’s bully boys in the [National Transitional Council] have yet to begin to eat each other though it seems almost inevitable that internal warfare amongst the rebels will take place. We may yet see NATO warplanes bombing its erstwhile allies in the Libyan rebellion...The one thing that is clear is that the Libyan Tragedy has just begun...30,000 bombs over Libya killing some 60,000 Libyans marks the beginning rather than the end of this disaster.
The G20 Papers
Submitted on September 4, 2011A call out for participants
We are seeking journalists, academics, bloggers and other commentators who want to be provided with thousands of pages of G20 security documents before we publish the collection online.
9/11: For 10 Years, We've Lied to Ourselves to Avoid Asking the One Real Question
Submitted on September 4, 2011By Robert Fisk - Saturday, 3 September 2011
["]...[9/11] Commissioners who argued that al-Qa'ida was motivated by a religious ideology...rejected mentioning the Israeli-Palestinian conflict... In their view, listing US support for Israel as a root cause of al-Qa'ida's opposition to the United States indicated that the United States should reassess that policy"...When the Israeli Prime Minister gets even the US Congress to grovel to him, the American people are not going to be told the answer to the most important and "sensitive" question of 9/11: why?
Turkey/Israeli War of Words
Submitted on September 4, 2011Turkey has demanded an apology and compensation for the loved ones of those killed on board the Mavi Marmara. In fact, Israel never says it's sorry, even when caught red-handed. Turkey called it unacceptable, warning of sanctions and other consequences.
George Monbiot and the Guardian on "Genocide Denial" and "Revisionism"
Submitted on September 4, 2011By Edward S. Herman and David Peterson - September 04, 2011
On first reading George Monbiot's "Left and Libertarian Right Cohabit in the Weird World of the Genocide Belittlers," we drew up a list of his errors, misrepresentations, and regurgitations of party-line lies, so as to better equip ourselves to respond to his commentary. But as the original list kept growing each time we looked at his work, we soon realized that our list might be almost indefinitely expandable, depending on how finely we parsed his errors, and how much time we wanted to devote to the project.
Carving up the Libya Corpse for Profit
Submitted on September 3, 2011On September 1, dozens of predator states met in Paris to pick apart Libya's bones even though it's breathing, if barely.
Cops Violently Arrest 15 Muslims in Clash at Suburban New York Amusement Park
Submitted on September 3, 2011By Dan Brennan - 3 September 2011
An angry clash broke out on August 30 when female Muslim visitors to an amusement park in suburban New York City were told they were barred from certain rides because they were wearing the traditional hijab, or headscarf. About 100 police and 60 squad cars from neighboring towns converged on the park, and 15 visitors, both men and women, were arrested. Two were charged with felony assault.
Former Obama Supporter Surrenders his Disillusions: Obama's Betrayals Offer Lessons That Cannot be Denied
Submitted on September 3, 2011By Danny Schechter - Al Jazeera
I have to admit that I was seduced by the idea of Barack Obama...There were those who warned, but, I guess I didn't want to listen...I was also influenced by the euphoria overseas which had become infectious and has since soured...Slowly, despite the glow and the aura, deeper truths surfaced, realities I had ignored.
Wild Salmon Warrior Rally
Submitted on September 3, 2011200 Gather to Protect Wild Salmon in Vancouver
Over 200 people rallied at the Vancouver Art Gallery on Tuesday, Aug. 30, 2011, to raise awareness about the threats faced by wild salmon populations. These include industrial logging and commercial fishing, pollution, and the proliferation of fish farms on the BC coast. But at this single-issue style rally/media event, fish farms were the main target.
Promoting Fear and Hate in America
Submitted on September 3, 2011They're described as fundamentalists, extremists, terrorists, and fanatics. They're identified with violence, when, in fact, Islam has common roots with Christianity and Judaism. Their tenets are based on love, not hate; peace, not violence; charity, not exploitation; and a just, fair society for people of all faiths.
40 Years Later: Remembering Attica
Submitted on September 3, 2011By Bruce A. Dixon - Black Agenda Report
Forty years ago this week, inmates in upstate New York's Attica Prison took their lives and destinies into their own hands. The prison, designed for 1200 inmates at the time housed nearly double that number, and inmates were limited to one shower per week and one roll of toilet paper per month. Arbitrary beatings and religious discrimination against Muslim inmates were common...“We are men...and not beasts to be driven as such.”
Overcoming Western Designs in Libya
Submitted on September 3, 2011By Ramzy Baroud - September 03, 2011
Listening to upbeat statements by rebel military commanders...one gets the impression that the future of Libya is being entirely formulated by the new Libyan leadership. Arab media...seemed at times to entirely neglect that there was a third and most powerful party involved in the battle...It is the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, whose decisive and financially costly military intervention was not charitable, nor was it a moral act. It was a politically and strategically calculated endeavor...
A New Constituency for Imperialism
Submitted on September 3, 2011By Peter Schwarz - WSWS
The transition of former liberals and pacifists into the imperialist war camp is so widespread that one cannot treat it as an individual phenomenon. Great social struggles often announce themselves through such political transformations. Political parties are preparing for the role they will play in future class struggles...It is mainly the representatives of well-off layers of the middle class who are bidding adieu to their former pacifist, liberal or “leftist” views.
CIA Worked with Gaddafi's Libya in Terror Suspect Renditions, Documents Show
Submitted on September 3, 2011Saturday 3 September 2011 - The Guardian
The CIA worked closely with Muammar Gaddafi's intelligence services in the rendition of terrorist suspects including Abdel-Hakim Belhaj, the rebel commander in Tripoli, according to documents found in Tripoli...The files, uncovered by Human Rights Watch, provide details of the close relationship between western intelligence services...and the ousted dictator's regime.
Besieging and Terror Bombing Sirte
Submitted on September 2, 2011Sirte, a city of 100,000, is being terror bombed relentlessly, perhaps intending to turn it to rubble. It wouldn't be the first time Washington and its Western allies did it.
Israel's Proposed Counterterrorism Law
Submitted on September 2, 2011A major concern is Israel's proposed counter-terrorism law. It proposes to make current "state of emergency" measures against terrorism permanent law, including administrative detentions, control orders, and broad definitions of "terrorism" and "terror organizations."
Interview with J.Stevens (shoestringstudios.org) about his new album, Climate Controlled
Submitted on September 2, 2011with the songs Stately Dissonance and Voted
CKUT's Syria Uprising Broadcast: Oil and Blood: Ties between Canada's Suncor and the Syrian Regime
Submitted on September 2, 2011Interviews with Mary Foster of Collective for Syria and Suncor's Spokesperson
Last Friday, Montrealers made their voices heard about Canada's largest oil company, Suncor's working relationship with the Syrian regime.
"Friends of Libya" Meet for Imperialist Carve-Up in Paris
Submitted on September 2, 2011By Bill Van Auken - WSWS
One of the strategic objectives of US imperialism and its Western European counterparts was precisely to counter growing Chinese influence in Libya and Africa generally, as well as Russia’s ambitions, which included talks with the Gaddafi government on acquiring a Mediterranean port for its navy in Benghazi.
UN Report on Mavi Marmara Massacre
Submitted on September 2, 2011The attack on the Mavi Marmara was a well planned premeditated attack against unarmed, nonviolent humanitarian activists, trying to break Israel's illegal blockade to deliver essential aid. Cold-blooded murder resulted.
Former UK Spy Chief Decries "War on Terror"
Submitted on September 2, 2011By Richard Norton-Taylor - Friday 2 September 2011
Lady Eliza Manningham-Buller, the former head of MI5, delivered a withering attack on the invasion of Iraq, decried the term "war on terror", and held out the prospect of talks with al-Qaida...[S]he also said the 9/11 attacks were "a crime, not an act of war". "So I never felt it helpful to refer to a war on terror".
Chile’s Winter Awakening
Submitted on September 2, 2011By Roberto Navarrete - September 02, 2011
Since May, some 700 schools have been occupied by secondary school students and almost daily street protests have been taking place ever since. In mid-August around half a million students and their families took part in a demonstration...in central Santiago. The students have also managed to connect their struggles with other sectors of Chilean society. A week after the [Santiago] demonstration, the students joined a national strike declared by Chile’s trade union confederation (CUT)...
London Calling: Civil Unrest in an Age of Austerity
Submitted on September 2, 2011By JACK RANDOM - September 2, 2011
To all those British intelligentsia who attributed the recent riots...to hooligans, you’re as wrong as the myriad free enterprise economists who swore we had nothing to fear from a deregulated marketplace. You’re as wrong as the killing of an innocent man. You’re as wrong as holding the poor accountable for the errors of the elite. You’re as wrong as an economy that creates an ever-widening gap between the haves and have-nothings.
Down to the Wire: A-Zone Tenants to Purchase Historic Building
Submitted on September 2, 2011FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 1, 2011
The A-Zone at 91 Albert St. is Winnipeg’s center for progressive thought, community activism, and alternative business models. It has hosted thinkers, activists and writers, such as Naomi Klein, Michael Albert, Chris Hedges, and Judy Rebick. A diversity of tenants, made up of worker cooperatives, small businesses, and activist groups, are working together to secure the purchase of the building, culminating this month with requests for donations and a number of fund-raising events in collaboration with the Winnipeg Radical Bookfair (September 24 - 26, 2011).
Libya: NATO's Latest Charnal House
Submitted on September 1, 2011When NATO intervenes, massacres, mass destruction, and indescribable human misery follow. Libya is its latest trophy.
Iraqi Children in U.S. Raid Shot in Head, UN Says
Submitted on September 1, 2011By Matthew Schofield - Thursday, September 1, 2011
A U.S. diplomatic cable made public by WikiLeaks provides evidence that U.S. troops executed at least 10 Iraqi civilians...during a controversial 2006 incident in the central Iraqi town of Ishaqi..."The American forces gathered the family members in one room and executed 11 persons, including five children, four women and two men. Then they bombed the house, burned three vehicles and killed their animals."
Interview with Dan Kellar: Independent Journalist Arrested for a Blog Post
Submitted on September 1, 2011Undercover police, media freedoms, and security culture
"If we know the information, we gotta keep spreading it" - Dan Kellar, arrested for a blog post about undercover police.
NATO Prepares Bloodbath in Sirte
Submitted on September 1, 2011By Bill Van Auken - 1 September 2011
...[T]he US and its NATO allies, former colonial powers, are mounting a barbaric siege of a major population center that threatens to produce civilian casualties on a mass scale...In their breathless promotion of the “final battle” to realize the real US-NATO aim in Libya...few in the Western media have bothered to consider the fact that the major imperialist powers are carrying out precisely the kind of act they claimed their war was designed to prevent.
Toronto: Ford's Cuts Are Racist
Submitted on September 1, 2011August 30, 2011 - No One Is Illegal-Toronto
The worst impacts of the coming cuts will be felt by those of us already shut out of public services, those without full immigration status, immigrants, people of color, indigenous, migrant workers, those of us who experience the violence of police and border guards every day. For those of us without papers, with empty stomachs, working for slave wages, with peanuts in our pockets, the fight against austerity has always been ours.
CKUT's Off the Hour: McGill Students Try to Bring Tuition Truth
Submitted on September 1, 2011Interview with Joel Pedneault
CKUT spoke with Joel Pedneault from Tuition Truth which is a campaign of the Students Society of McGill University and the Professional and Graduate Student Society. In the 1960s students paid less than $600 to attend university. By 2017 rates are expected to be close to $4000.
HR 2829 Targets Palestinian Statehood
Submitted on September 1, 2011Lawless extremists infest Congress like crabgrass besets lawns. House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairwoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R. FL) is one of the worst...On August 30, (with 57 co-sponsors) she introduced "HR 2829: To promote transparency, accountability, and reform within the United Nation system, and for other purposes."
U.S. Wants to Finger Hezbollah: Lebanese Tribunal Concealed Evidence Al-Qaeda Cell Killed Former Prime Minister
Submitted on September 1, 2011By GARETH PORTER - Counterpunch
In focusing entirely on the alleged links between four Hezbollah activists and the 2005 bombing that killed [former Lebanese] Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, the indictment issued by the Special Tribunal for Lebanon earlier this month has continued the practice of the U.N. investigation before it of refusing to acknowledge the much stronger evidence that an Al-Qaeda cell was responsible for the assassination.
WikiLeaks: U.S. and Brazil Monitoring Chávez in the Caribbean
Submitted on September 1, 2011By Nikolas Kozloff - Znet
Under the helm of Luiz Inácio "Lula" da Silva, Brazil cultivated a strategic alliance with Venezuela and publicly the two nations embraced South America's "pink tide" to the left. Yet, WikiLeaks documents reveal that Brazil may have shared Washington's concern over Chávez's rising geopolitical importance, particularly in the Caribbean...
London Neighbourhoods Terrorized by Police Raids
Submitted on September 1, 2011By Paul Stuart - WSWS
One month after major disturbances were provoked by the August 4 police killing of Mark Duggan in north London, the Metropolitan Police in the capital are intensifying raids on working class communities...Entire neighbourhoods have been sealed off, with riot police smashing down doors and dragging people away. So far this has resulted in over 2,000 arrests in London alone, averaging approximately 100 a day since the riots began.
Celebrating the Poverty Olympics Torch
Submitted on September 1, 2011... and Its Violations of Vancouver's Recent Bylaw Amendments
About one hour before midnight on 19 April 2011, Vancouver City Council went through more contortions than a sideshow acrobat in order to approve a nefarious set of amendments to the Street and Traffic By-law by a vote of 7 to 4.
The Poverty Olympics Torch: A Gallery
Submitted on September 1, 2011
Also read the companion story: Celebrating the Poverty Olympics Torch
NATO's Genocidal Rape of Libya
Submitted on August 31, 2011Continuing NATO atrocities on Libyan civilians give naked aggression a new name.
Top Ten Myths in the War Against Libya
Submitted on August 31, 2011By MAXIMILIAN C. FORTE - August 31, 2011
I wish to...remind readers of the role of ideologically-motivated fabrications of “truth” that were used to justify, enable, enhance, and motivate the war against Libya — and to emphasize how damaging the practical effects of those myths have been to Libyans, and to all those who favored peaceful, non-militarist solutions...[These myths] threaten to severely distort the ideals of human rights and their future invocation, as well aiding in the continued militarization of Western culture and society.
U.S. Election March of the Trolls
Submitted on August 31, 2011By Chris Hedges - August 29, 2011
The trolls dominate or have neutralized every major institution in the country on behalf of their corporate paymasters. The press, education, Wall Street, labor and our political parties are managed by trolls or have been destroyed by them. Sometimes these trolls speak like liberals. Sometimes they speak like conservatives. Sometimes they are secular. Sometimes they are Christians. But the language they use is a cover for the relentless march toward a totalitarian capitalism and a kingdom where the trolls...live happily ever after.
Israel's Operation Summer Seeds
Submitted on August 31, 2011Israel's planned disruptions of Palestinian statehood.
More Deaths at the Hands of UK Police
Submitted on August 31, 2011By Robert Stevens - 31 August 2011
In the space of just seven days, three more people have been killed in police operations in the UK involving the use of lethal Taser guns and pepper spray...“What the police did was outrageous. He was handcuffed, on the floor with his legs restrained...They seemed to be kneeing him in the back of the head. I counted 11 cops. They all sat on him, giving him a kicking and giving him side digs. There was one woman officer...and she was getting her kicks in as well.”
Islamists at the Heart of the Libyan Rebellion
Submitted on August 31, 2011By PATRICK COCKBURN - August 31, 2011
Much of government propaganda on Libyan state TV during the six-month civil war was focused on claims that the rebellion was being led by Islamic militants linked to al-Qa’ida. The aim was to frighten the US and NATO abroad and secular Libyans at home...But the allegations also had some credibility, since the most militant and experienced anti-Gaddafi organisation was the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group (LIFG).
Libya:Peace without intervention
Submitted on August 31, 2011Pitch for Pay! Deadline: Monday!
Submitted on August 31, 2011Contribute to the Halifax Media Co-op
The Halifax Media Co-op is seeking pitches for our next paid feature.
Advancing U.S.-Canada Economic, Energy and Security Integration
Submitted on August 30, 2011Following his meeting with Secretary Napolitano, Minister Toews also announced that Prime Minister Harper and U.S. President Obama will meet in early fall where they will be updated and provide further directions on plans for a North American security perimeter. There are fears that any deal reached could be lopsided with Canada giving up more than it gains. Over the last number of years, Canada has already enacted many U.S. security measures.
Meet Professor Juan Cole, Consultant to the CIA
Submitted on August 30, 2011By JOHN WALSH - Counterpunch
Juan Cole is a brand name that is no longer trusted. And that has been the case for some time for the Professor from Michigan...Cole has called the Afghan War “the right war at the right time” and has emerged as a cheerleader for Obama’s unconstitutional war on Libya and for Obama himself.
R2P = Right 2 Plunder
Submitted on August 30, 2011By Pepe Escobar - August 30, 2011
...[A]s a vast, potentially very profitable new market for European companies...Libya is the genuine article, adding a whole new meaning to the humanitarian imperialist doctrine of R2P ("responsibility to protect")...Gaddafi is actually gambling that the joint NATO/GCC ops will turn Libya into the new Iraq/Afghanistan...It will force [NATO] to be even more entrenched in northern Africa. It will allow the use of the same old imperial divide-and-rule tactics while Western companies exercise their Right 2 Plunder options.
GroundWire August 29th Edition
Submitted on August 30, 2011The Millenium Scoop and The Conservative Government's "tough on crime" agenda
GroundWire Community Radio News: August 29th – Sept 10th
VPD vs the Anarchists!
Submitted on August 30, 2011While I've had a pretty consistent success rate with the Federal Government getting information out of them, I've had no luck so far with the BC Government as open as it is, and with local institutions like the VPD. I recently decided to write a request to the VPD to see if the VPD had setup something like the Montreal GAMMA unit, which investigates Anarchists.
"I survived the 24 Hour Zine Challenge"
Submitted on August 30, 2011The Roberts Street Social Centre hosted their 6th annual 24 hour Zine Challenge from August 24 to 25th. The purpose of the Challenge is to promote zine sharing and reading, by adding new zines to the Anchor Archives zine library. Completed zines will be shared with zine libraries across North America.
CKUT's Off the Hour: Rare Earths, Mining and Algonquins at Lake Kipewa
Submitted on August 30, 2011Interview with Ramsey Hart of Mining Watch Canada
CKUT spoke with Ramsey Hart of Mining Watch Canada. He told us what rare earths are and why we should not just know about the prospecting now going on across Canada but also be concerned about it. He talks specifically about the Algonqunis at Lake Kipewa: yet another case of the First Nations being the first to face the music.
CKUT's Off the Hour: Innu Resist Cap-Ex Mining Ventures
Submitted on August 30, 2011Interview with Armand MacKenzie, Innu Human Rights Activist
CKUT spoke with Armand MacKenzie, a human rights activist. MacKenzie speaks on how a Vancouver-based mining company is proceeding with exploration activities on Innu territory.
This is originally aired on CKUT's Off the Hour on August 26,17h-18h
The Death of Jack Layton and the Myth of National Solidarity
Submitted on August 30, 2011By Richard Dufour - WSWS
What critically-minded workers and other socialists need to consider is why the corporate media, Layton’s ostensible political opponents, and the entire establishment...have chosen to proclaim Layton a veritable national hero...The endless media references to Layton’s “pragmatism” and “common touch” point in fact to what made him so valuable an asset for the ruling class, and the real reason they are mourning his passing — the ability to put a pretty, populist face on a right-wing political orientation.
Independent Journalist Dan Kellar Arrested for Naming "Infiltrator" in Blog Post
Submitted on August 30, 2011By Tim Groves - Toronto Media Co-op
On August 25th, independent journalist, blogger, and activist Dan Kellar was arrested for a blog post that he wrote in which he named and provided a photo of a man he claimed to be an undercover police officer, and encouraged readers to "spit in his footsteps and scoff at his existence".
Dan Kellar Arrested After Blog Post on G20 "Infiltrator"
Submitted on August 30, 2011On August 25th, independent journalist, blogger, and activist Dan Kellar was arrested for a blog post he made two days earlier in which he named and provided a photo of a man he claimed to be an undercover police officer involved in infiltrating G20 protest groups and encouraged readers to "spit in his footsteps and scoff at his existence".
Washington Threatens Palestinian Statehood Bid
Submitted on August 29, 2011For decades, the U.S. has subverted peace negotiations and Palestine's bid for statehood. The Obama administration is now doing it again.
Six Years After Katrina: The Battle for New Orleans Continues
Submitted on August 29, 2011By JORDAN FLAHERTY - August 29, 2011
...[T]he vast changes that have taken place in New Orleans since Katrina have had little to do with weather, and everything to do with political struggles. Six years after the federal levees failed and 80 percent of the city was flooded, New Orleans has lost 80,000 jobs and 110,000 residents. It is a whiter and wealthier city, with tourist areas well maintained while communities like the Lower Ninth Ward remain devastated. Beyond the statistics, it is still a much contested city.
European and U.S. Working Class Politics: Right, Left and Neutered
Submitted on August 29, 2011By James Petras - Dissident Voice
The deepening economic crises in Europe and the United States are provoking contrasting socio-political responses from the working and middle classes...Rather than solidarity, the economic crisis highlights working class fragmentation, disunity and internal polarization.
NATO's Ugly Face
Submitted on August 29, 2011For months, NATO marauders and rebel killers gang raped Libya - murdering, destroying, ravaging on the pretense of protecting.
The McDonald Bridge- a Cycling Headache
Submitted on August 29, 2011A multi-million dollar upgrade involving re-painting and repaving of the McDonald Bridge is currently underway. One of the goals of the Halifax Harbour Bridges authority that operates the bridge is to become a recognized leader in sustainable transportation demand management (TDM).
Evidence Mounts of Atrocities by Libyan "Rebels"
Submitted on August 29, 2011By Patrick Martin - 29 August 2011
A series of reports from journalists on the ground in Tripoli have provided evidence of mass killings by the NATO-backed forces in the Libyan civil war. These reports, which appear in publications largely supportive of the US-NATO intervention to overthrow the regime of Muammar Gaddafi, further expose the fraudulent claim that the imperialist war against Libya is driven by humanitarian motives and the desire to protect civilian lives.
No Way to Honor Martin Luther King
Submitted on August 29, 2011By Medea Benjamin - August 29, 2011
The ceremonies for the new Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial in Washington DC were kicked off on August 24...But some of those honored are a far cry from King’s beloved community of the poor and oppressed. The tribute to peacemakers...was mostly a night applauding war-makers, corporate profiteers and co-opted musicians.
The Law of the Land
Submitted on August 29, 2011Re-learning the Peace and Friendship Treaties through First Nations' eyes
The Annual Peace and Friendship Gathering at the Tatamagouche Centre, held this year from August 15 to 19, gets to the root of race relations: a sometimes painful, yet important process.
Never Forgive, Never Forget
Submitted on August 28, 2011After covering Libya's rape since last winter in dozens of articles, no forgiving or forgetting is possible for one of history's great crimes.
The New-Model Interventionists
Submitted on August 28, 2011By ARNO J. MAYER - August 26, 2011
For a while it looked as if Western Europe’s imperial-colonial era had drawn to a close and as if the imperial benefits and burdens it bequeathed to the U.S. were about to be liquidated, as well. But this turns out to be a gross historical misconstruction.
Following the Money in Libya
Submitted on August 27, 2011Western Companies In; Eastern Companies Out As War Winds Down
Toronto - The victory of the rebels in Libya's recent conflict and their taking of Tripoli have created a stampede by foreign companies trying top shore up the countries oil resources.
Libya holds the largest oil and gas reserves in Africa.
Up and at 'Em: Rise of the Planet of the Apes
Submitted on August 27, 2011First of all let me say I'm not your average film reviewer. Case in point: this review was written after finishing packing for my third move this year, from East to South Van. You know, because packing made me think about uprising.
Demonstration at Kinder Morgan in Burnaby, BC: No Pipelines, No Tankers, No Freeways, No Tar Sands!
Submitted on August 27, 2011In Washington DC, a massive display of civil disobedience is well underway to pressure the US government to stop the proposed Keystone XL Pipeline designed to carry tar sands oil from Northern Alberta to refineries across the United States.
American Decline: Causes and Consequences
Submitted on August 27, 2011By Noam Chomsky - Znet
...[I]t is “a common theme” that the United States..."is in decline, ominously facing the prospect of its final decay.” It is indeed a common theme...and with some reason. But an appraisal of US foreign policy and influence abroad and the strength of its domestic economy and political institutions at home suggests that a number of qualifications are in order...[D]espite America’s decline, in the foreseeable future there is no competitor for global hegemonic power.
Protest at Kinder Morgan Trans Mountain Pipline
Submitted on August 27, 2011On a bright Saturday afternoon a group of 150 protesters gathered at the Kinder Morgan's Trans Mountain Pipelines in North Burnaby in solidarity with those being arrested in Washington DC as they call on their President to reject the Keystone XL pipeline.
Libya: The Criminal Face of Imperialism
Submitted on August 27, 2011By Bill Van Auken - WSWS
NATO’s assault on Libya, a criminal imperialist war from its outset more than five months ago, has descended into an exercise in out-and-out murder as special forces operatives and intelligence agents hunt down Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi...NATO warplanes carried out over 20,000 sorties, destroying schools, hospitals and homes and slaughtering untold numbers of Libyan soldiers, many of them young conscripts.
Follow-Up Comments on Palestinian Statehood Vote
Submitted on August 27, 2011In September, the General Assembly will vote on granting full statehood recognition and de jure UN membership to Palestine.
"Welfare Reform" Turns Fifteen in the U.S.
Submitted on August 27, 2011By STEPHEN PIMPARE - Counterpunch
The safety net has become less effective at lifting people out of poverty...But welfare reform is a small portion of this failure...After all, for most poor Americans, the program...is now irrelevant, and rather than “ending welfare as we know it,” we have, for all but a few, simply ended welfare, a process made relatively easy because we had allowed it to be quietly whittled away for three decades.
New York City Police, CIA in Massive Spying Operation Against Muslims
Submitted on August 26, 2011By Peter Daniels - 26 August 2011
The New York City Police Department, working in close collaboration with the Central Intelligence Agency, has carried out an unprecedented spying operation directed against Muslim immigrants and Muslim-Americans over the past decade...“A months-long investigation….has revealed that the NYPD operates far outside its borders and targets ethnic communities in ways that would run afoul of civil liberties rules if practiced by the federal government...”
Type 2 ~ A Bipolar Journey (Review)
Submitted on August 26, 2011Conviction! Mission Possible! Taking bipolar disorder out of the shadows without a celebrity endorsement is daunting but so much more relevant because it's all about the every day person living, struggling and dealing with mental illness.
VIVO, Industry Canada and the Olympics
Submitted on August 26, 2011One of the cooler pieces of creative resistance during the Vancouver 2010 Games was the VIVO Evening News. This was an initiative of VIVO Studios, where they setup a Pirate Radio Station.
End the Costly and Pointless Prosperity Mine Review Now, Tsilhqot'in Urge
Submitted on August 26, 2011WILLIAMS LAKE, BC, Aug.
St Catharines, Ontario: Replacing Forests with Wastelands - Farming Along Twelve-Mile Creek
Submitted on August 26, 2011The papers have been hyping it all week and it’s finally here: Thursday July 21st, the supposed hottest day of the year. We’re in downtown St Catherines, watching as the scorching heat pushes everyone off the north side of St Paul Street in favour of the shady south side.
General Assembly Palestinian Statehood Vote
Submitted on August 26, 2011UN Charter Article 80(1) and others empower the General Assembly to recognize Palestinian statehood and take all necessary measures to end Israel's illegal occupation. If sovereignty is granted, it's more than ever essential to do so, holding Israel fully accountable for not complying.
U.S. Government Preparing New Attacks Against WikiLeaks
Submitted on August 26, 2011By David Walsh - WSWS
The Obama administration and its Department of Homeland Security are continuing their assault on WikiLeaks and its founder, Julian Assange, as part of the effort to stifle opposition to American militarism and imperialism.
The Myth of Libyan Liberation
Submitted on August 26, 2011By CONN HALLINAN - Counterpunch
[That the] U.S. is interested in a “lawful world order”...would certainly come as a surprise to the Palestinians, the Shiites in the Gulf, and peasants in Colombia who suffer the deprivations of death squads aided by the U.S....The U.S. supports international law when it is in its interests to do so, undermines it when it is not, and ignores it when it is inconvenient...The record speaks for itself.
Libya's Imperial Hijacking is a Threat to the Arab Revolution
Submitted on August 26, 2011By Seumas Milne - Znet
However glad people are to see the fall of the Gaddafi clan, it's clear that such intimate involvement of the US and the former colonial powers taints and undermines the legitimacy of Libya's transformation. They will expect a payback for their investment in the Libyan war: in oil and commercial deals, political support and perhaps even the return of western military bases...[I]f Libyans end up with the kind of democracy foisted on Iraq and Afghanistan...that will be no liberation at all.
State Murders and State Funerals
Submitted on August 26, 2011August 25, 2011 - Coop Média de Montréal
When a man with very little wealth and power is killed by the state it is swept away as an anomaly in the everyday workings of law and order. Yet, when a man who has made a career of enforcing the state order which creates poverty and disparity dies of natural and predictable causes he is praised for his efforts and held up as a nationalistic hero as we all pitch in for his funeral. That is disgusting.
Choosing Our Battles: Why the feminist movement needs to stop arguing and support the decriminalisation of sex work
Submitted on August 26, 2011In May, as part of our zine project go it alone (together), Emily Davidson and I gave a workshop at the Montreal Anarchist Bookfair: “The Struggle for Reproductive Autonomy: From underground abortion collectives to the fight to decriminalize sex work.” Before we had even left our home city of Halifax, we received a phone call from one of the bookfair’s organisers to d
State Murders and State Funerals
Submitted on August 25, 2011What was the funeral for Mario Hamel like? Likely sadder than most as the details surrounding his violent death are still unclear; although as most people might understand it, if someone has been shot to death by many bullets it is seen as murder. Yet Mr.
Israel’s Nice Little War
Submitted on August 25, 2011By RAMZY BAROUD - August 25, 2011
On August 9, residents of the impoverished Gaza Strip feared attack by Israel. The fears were not only based on repeated threats by Israeli officials, but also on a mysterious telecommunication blackout that day which cut off all Internet, mobile phones and international landlines for hours...“Meanwhile, residents of Gaza near the border with Israel said army bulldozers were seen operating shortly before communications went off-line...”
NATO's Libya War: A Nuremberg Level Crime
Submitted on August 25, 2011The US/UK/French-led war on Libya will be remembered as one of history's greatest crimes. It violates the letter and spirit of international law and America's Constitution.
Are We Killing Drug Addicts Like Amy Winehouse?
Submitted on August 25, 2011By Kristen Gwynne - AlterNet
...Amy [Winehouse's] dad Mitch gave an emotional speech at Amy's funeral, where he identified alcohol withdrawal and Amy's "all or nothing" approach to use as possible causes of his daughter's death. Statements that Amy reportedly said she "had enough of drinking" and could not "stand the look on the family's faces anymore" are examples of how families affected by addiction may actually hurt their loved ones, even though their intentions stem from compassion.
Well Blow Me Down!
Submitted on August 25, 2011In which we examine the wind portion of the Nova Scotia Renewable Electricity Plan.
The Renewable Electricity Plan, released by the Nova Scotia Department of Energy, is meant to be the guideline by which Nova Scotia will gloriously embrace green technologies and herald forth a newer, cleaner day.
Racial profiling at popular Montreal bar St-Sulpice?
Submitted on August 25, 2011[Update below]
St-Sulpice, with its downtown location, large terrasse and relatively cheap beer, is a popular Montreal drinking-hole, and easly seats and serves hundreds of people on most nights of the summer.
But at least 7 patrons were stopped from entering the bar the night of Wednesday, Aug 24th in what appears to be a case of racial profiling.
Crude Analysis of Libyan "Liberation"
Submitted on August 25, 2011By CHRIS FLOYD - Counterpunch
Another war for oil? Surely not! But just to be on the safe side, the world’s oil barons are already moving in to seal some sweetheart deals on that sweet, sweet crude with the new, NATO-installed masters of Libya...And guess what? It turns out that companies from the Western countries that eagerly rained tons of death-metal on the Libyan people are being given the inside track to the post-Gaddafi gusher. Meanwhile, countries that had urged caution...now face relegation to the outer darkness.
The summer is nearly over. Make your back-to-work mean writing for the Dominion!
Submitted on August 25, 2011Cameras, Cops and Crime in Peterborough
Submitted on August 25, 2011By Matthew Davidson - August 22, 2011
...[The] debate [on surveillance cameras] is heating up in Peterborough, Ontario, where city council recently considered joining the ranks of other medium-sized cities in Ontario that have installed closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras...“There is a shockingly transparent partnership between political power in the city, businesses and the police”...The money could be much better spent to address underlying causes of crime...such as poverty and marginalization. “Instead, it is being used to watch us.”
In Wake of Riots, British "Left" Calls for Law and Order
Submitted on August 25, 2011By Chris Marsden - WSWS
Patrolling the streets, negotiating with the police, determining sentencing — such are the political ambitions of the ex-left. Workers and young people should take note. This was their response to a few nights of rioting. In the event of the emergence of a serious revolutionary threat to capitalism, these forces will take their stand on the side of the ruling class and its repressive state apparatus.
Memorial Walk for Jack Layton
Submitted on August 25, 2011Memeorial Walk for Jack Layton in Halifax 24 August 2011. Route was from the Public Gardens, down Spring Garden to Barrington and Province House.
The event was organized by Cora-Lee LeBlanc, 15.
Venezuela vs. Canadian Gold
Submitted on August 24, 2011Chavez Squares Off Against Canadian Mining Companies; Banks
Toronto - The nationalization march continues on in Venezuela.
Libya War: It Ain't Over Till It's Over
Submitted on August 24, 2011Mark Twain once called reports of his death greatly exaggerated. The same hold for Libyans, not ready to submit to NATO colonization, occupation, plunder and exploitation. Not at least without a fight.
Summer Job at Hershey's "No Charlie's Chocolate Factory"
Submitted on August 24, 2011Tuesday, August 23, 2011 - Common Dreams
It sounded like the perfect summer job...Students from China, Africa and eastern Europe would work in a Hershey's chocolate plant before using their earnings to travel the US and learn English...The 400 students...claimed they were forced to become "captive workers"..."They don't care if you are small, you don't have the power, you didn't eat - they just care about their production..."
Over 200 Arrested in Ongoing Protest Against Keystone XL Tar Sands Oil Pipeline
Submitted on August 24, 2011August 24, 2011 - Intercontinental Cry
Another fifty-two environmental activists were arrested on Monday for taking part in the Tar Sands Action, a peaceful two-week protest that's urging President Obama to reject a permit for the risky Keystone XL pipeline.
British Cops Kill Unarmed Man with Taser and Pepper Spray
Submitted on August 24, 2011By Harvey Thompson - 24 August 2011
At around 18:30, eight officers arrived at the second floor flat of Dale Burns, 27, the father of two young children, and sought to arrest him. During the arrest one officer discharged a Taser device a number of times and another officer deployed pepper spray...Burns complained of feeling unwell following the arrest and was taken to Furness General Hospital where his condition deteriorated. At around 21:00, he was pronounced dead.
With Friends Like These: Neocons Call for War on Syria
Submitted on August 24, 2011By Maidhc Ó Cathail - Dissident Voice
Back in 1998, the Project for a New American Century wrote to President Clinton urging him to remove Saddam Hussein and his regime from power...Thirteen years, hundreds of thousands of lives, trillions of dollars, and no weapons of mass destruction later, three of the signatories of that infamous PNAC letter...are among a gang of Israel partisans and their lackeys who have signed another open letter to an American president urging regime change in yet another one of Israel’s Arab neighbours.
Cars and Class
Submitted on August 24, 2011By Yves Engler and Bianca Mugyenyi - August 24, 2011
We need to face the truth. By design, urban areas liberated from the danger, pollution and ecological devastation of the private automobile enjoy both heightened quality of life and equality of residents...Getting rid of our private-automobile dominated transportation system should be a priority for all those who believe in social equality and saving our environment.
Obama's Wars on Humanity
Submitted on August 24, 2011Ignoring social and other homeland needs, America's business is war, more war, imperial wars, defiantly heading the nation toward tyranny and ruin because of an addiction it can't or won't quit.
Canadian Boat to Gaza Campaign Condemns Latest Attacks on Gaza
Submitted on August 24, 2011August 24, 2011 - rabble.ca
In the last days the Gaza Strip has been subjected to numerous air raids from Israel, which have so far killed at least 15 Palestinians and wounded many more. Despite claims by Israel that they were targeting alleged armed groups in Gaza, the reported reality from the ground is that those killed were innocent civilians including children.
Deep Green Resistance, Death Threats and the Police
Submitted on August 24, 2011An interview with Derrick Jensen
In this exclusive interview with the Vancouver Media Co-op, author Derrick Jensen talks about a recent spate of death threats directed towards him. He explains his decision to take his case to the FBI. He also expresses his distaste for those who question his decision to go to the feds.
From Kandahar to Libya: How the NDP Facilitates Imperialist War (Part Two)
Submitted on August 24, 2011By Graham Beverly - WSWS
Whenever a consensus has emerged within the Canadian ruling class to deploy the [Canadian Armed Forces] overseas, the [New Democratic Party] has given its support, repeating and frequently amplifying the various “humanitarian” and “democratic” arguments used to bamboozle the population into supporting the bloody overthrow of regimes considered an obstacle to the interests of the western powers and the grabbing of resources and geo-strategic positions.
Texas Repuplican Candidate Compares Welfare Recipients to Donkeys
Submitted on August 24, 2011By Marie Diamond - AlterNet
Former Texas Secretary of State Roger Williams is running for Congress on a staunchly anti-Obama, anti-government platform. He recently came out with a new video ad called The Donkey Whisperer that’s raising a lot of eyebrows for conflating Democrats with welfare recipients and comparing them to donkeys.
Tenth MMC Radio Segment/Dixième segment radiophonique de la CMM
Submitted on August 24, 2011Tuesday, August 23 on CKUT's Off the Hour
- The Work Group on Urban Agriculture starts a petition to request the City of Montreal hold a public consultation on the state of urban agriculture in Montreal.
- The Under Pressure festival puts an artistic and educative spin on graffiti.
- Fondation Émergence's new campaign "Pour que veillir soit gai" seeks to aid services, businesses, organizations and groups ta
CBSA Inland Enforcement and the BCCLA
Submitted on August 23, 2011During the Olympics, the BCCLA had run ins with everyone. After the 2010 Heart Attack, it appeared that they had absolutely no one in their corner. After David Eby denounced the Heart Attack action, many people decided that Eby and the BCCLA Legal Observers were enemies, albeit a lesser threat than the VPD and the RCMP.
NATO's Planned Bloodbath in Tripoli
Submitted on August 23, 2011NATO intends to get the bloodbath it wants through intensified terror bombing and low-level strafing of civilians and nonmilitary sites.
Pope Steps Up Right-Wing Crusade in Spain
Submitted on August 23, 2011By Alejandro López and Paul Mitchell - 23 August 2011
Since his appointment as Pope in 2005, Josef Ratzinger has visited Spain three times, more than any other country. The Vatican falsely portrays Spain as a bastion of Catholicism, chosen as a target by the forces of Marxism, liberalism, secularism, science and virtually all things modern. But the Church is an increasingly unpopular and discredited institution, particularly among the youth.
Restraints Used On One in Four Psych Patients
Submitted on August 23, 2011CBC News - August 23, 2011
Nearly one in four people in mental health wards in Ontario are restrained using straps, sedative drugs or other methods, according to a new report...Psychiatric patients were much more likely to have experienced a control intervention at a general hospital than at a psychiatric hospital..."Most people who are admitted to hospital for mental illness actually come through the emergency department..."
Million Dollars Not Enough for Brutal Police Slaying of Kelly Thomas, Says Family
Submitted on August 23, 2011By Rady Ananda - August 23 2011
The surviving family members of Kelly Thomas, who was brutally murdered by Fullerton Police (Orange County, California) in July, rejected an offer of $900,000 not to pursue civil action...On July 5, 2011, closed circuit TV caught six Fullerton cops brutally murdering a homeless, mentally ill man. Kelly Thomas, age 37, died after being taken off life-support five days later.
Gaddafi Has Lost, But Who Has Won?
Submitted on August 23, 2011By PATRICK COCKBURN - Counterpunch
While it is clear Colonel Muammar Gaddafi has lost power, it is not certain who has gained it. The anti-regime militiamen that are now streaming into the capital were united by a common enemy, but not much else. The Transitional National Council (TNC) in Benghazi, already recognized by so many foreign states as the legitimate government of Libya, is of dubious legitimacy and authority.
Grassroots Gathering to Resist Proposed Pipelines
Submitted on August 23, 2011Report Back from Unist'hot'en Gathering, Wet'suwet'en Territory
From August 12-15, 2011, members of the Unist’hot’en clan of the Wet'suwet'en nation hosted their second gathering to oppose industrial threats in their traditional territory. Specifically, they are opposed to two major pipelines that will cut through their territory, the Pacific Trails Pipeline and Enbridge's proposed Northern Gateway pipeline system.
What difference could massage therapy make?
Submitted on August 23, 2011The real cost of cutting funds from special needs program for the disabled
April Keddy is a 31-year-old Port Willams resident who lives with the rare (she is one of 3 in Canada) and progressive disorder, Galactosialidosis, “that affects my whole body”. It was diagnosed when she was 3.
From Yugoslavia to Haiti: How the NDP Facilitates Imperialist War (Part One)
Submitted on August 23, 2011By Graham Beverly - WSWS
...[T]he [New Democratic Party] have helped rally support for and politically legitimize the use of the [Canadian Armed Forces] to bolster the predatory interests of the Canadian bourgeoisie. On several occasions...the NDP having supported the CAF’s deployment in imperialist wars, subsequently responded to the growth of popular antiwar sentiment by calling for an end to Canadian participation. In so doing, their purpose has been to corral this opposition behind a section of the political establishment and thereby neuter it.
Palestinian Right of Self-Defense
Submitted on August 23, 2011Repeatedly, Israel preemptively bombs, shells, and inflicts other forms of lawless violence on Gazans, claiming self-defense...When they respond, Israel calls it terrorism, claiming justification for greater attacks in "self-defense," what international law prohibits.
A Blanket Policy of Mass Imprisonment: UK Cops Planned to Hold All Riot Suspects in Custody
Submitted on August 23, 2011By Polly Curtis - The Guardian
Senior [London] police officers devised a policy of holding all people arrested on riot-related offences in custody and recommending that the courts also refuse bail after they were charged, according to a leaked "prisoner processing strategy"..."The right to bail is a long-standing and essential part of our criminal justice system...[I]t seems that the Metropolitan police took a strategic decision to apply a blanket ban and deny everyone bail, no matter what their circumstances...[T]his policy is unlawful..."
Montreal North stand up
Submitted on August 23, 2011MC Ricardo Lamour-Blaise puts police and politicians on blast following the three-year anniversary of Fredy Villanueva’s death
Originally posted on atthreat.net:
Israel Launches Bloody Reprisals in Egypt and Gaza
Submitted on August 22, 2011By Jean Shaoul - WSWS
Israel’s aggressive response to a series of suicide and roadside bomb attacks near the Red Sea resort of Eilat on Thursday has exacerbated tensions with both the Palestinians and its neighbour, Egypt...The attacks killed eight people...and injured dozens more...They pursued the attackers, whom eyewitnesses said were wearing Egyptian army uniforms, presumably stolen, on land and by air, killing at least seven people...
How California Law Shields Violent Cops
Submitted on August 22, 2011By Ali Winston - August 17, 2011
...[L]awsuits are the only remaining way for records of [police] shooters to become public. As a result, accountability activists say, it is now extremely difficult to keep tabs on officer conduct. Rachel Jackson, an organizer of the Bay Area protests of Oscar Grant’s killing, says the indictment on murder charges of ex-BART Officer Johannes Mehserle, following widespread public outcry, is proof of the point: “If there’s street heat, they’ll do something.”
Five Reasons Israel Should Cease its Attacks on Gaza
Submitted on August 22, 2011By Julie Webb-Pullman - August 22nd, 2011
Aided and abetted by a veto-wielding superpower, Israel has...made a mockery of, and exposed the hypocrisy of, the UN system existing to protect the peoples of the world from the very abuses Israel commits with impunity against others, whilst continuing to demand its protection.
Libya's Divided Rebels
Submitted on August 22, 2011By PATRICK COCKBURN - Counterpunch
The Transitional National Council (TNC) in Benghazi is now recognized by more than 30 foreign governments...as the government of Libya. But it is by no means clear that it is recognized as such by the rebel militiamen who are in the process of seizing the capital. The rebel fighters in Misrata, who fought so long to defend their city, say privately that they have no intention of obeying orders from the TNC. Their intransigence may not last but it is one sign that the insurgents are deeply divided.
New York Times: Lying About Libya and Palestine
Submitted on August 22, 2011If New York Times reports proliferate lies, imagine what other media sources provide, especially US television news and information. It's little more than a bottomless profane sinkhole of worthlessness.
A Hegemonic Blowjob
Submitted on August 22, 2011In the fall of 2008, I was among those bright eyed young people who strode full tilt into our first year as undergraduate students, confident that we would leave in four years time, a bit wiser, prepared to make a way for ourselves in a world full of prospects.
Re-defining Terrorism
Submitted on August 22, 2011Author Will Potter speaks about the witch hunt of environmental activists
This audio program of Will Potter, author of "Green is the New Red: An Insider's Account of a Social Movement Under Siege," was recorded on August 20th, 2011 in Arlington, Washington by the Vancouver Media Co-Op.
NATO-Backed Forces Move Into Tripoli
Submitted on August 22, 2011By Patrick Martin - WSWS
The Libyan regime of Muammar Gaddafi appeared on the brink of collapse Sunday night, as ground forces of the NATO-backed Transitional National Council entered Tripoli, the capital city, from the west, south and east...Many units of the Libyan military were said to have fled their positions without a fight...An Associated Press report said the military unit charged with the defense of downtown Tripoli and Muammar Gaddafi’s personal security had surrendered.
Multimedia & Multiculturalism Initiative (article, videos, & audio)
Submitted on August 22, 2011Represent?! – The Multimedia & Multiculturalism challenge
Media that fosters a sense of belonging
Stages of Pantages
Submitted on August 21, 2011Rider Cooey shares these photos of the stages of demolition at the Pantages site — 138 East Hastings Street — between Tuesday 16 Aug 2011 and Saturday 20 Aug 2011. Look for people on the sidewalk. Look for protection from debris and dust. Look and see!
Booklet on Aboriginal issues released as PDF for printing or online reading
Submitted on August 21, 2011"My Entry into Aboriginal Understanding" is a collection of eight articles written by Greg Macdougall, member of IPSMO - Indigenous Peoples Solidarity Movement Ottawa.
The articles cover a range of topics from culture and language to sovereignty and activism.
UK Considers Curfew Powers Following Riots
Submitted on August 21, 2011By Robert Stevens - 20 August 2011
In the aftermath of the riots that swept London and other cities in England last week, the Conservative/Liberal government is actively planning the imposition of curfew powers covering wide geographical areas...Home Secretary Theresa May announced that giving the police further powers to clear streets and establish “no-go” areas are under discussion.
Zombie Housing, Zombie Banks, Zombie Governments: Economy Cassandra Says Marx Was Right
Submitted on August 21, 2011"Karl Marx had it right. At some point capitalism can destroy itself because you cannot keep on shifting income from labor to capital without not having excess capacity and a lack of aggregate demand, and that's what's happening." -- Nouriel Roubini
Another Israeli False Flag?
Submitted on August 21, 2011Mossad and Shin Bet (Israel's Security Agency) have long, odious histories of committing false flag operations.
Interview with John Beaucage on Aboriginal Foster Care and the "Millenium Scoop"
Submitted on August 21, 2011Native leader says the situation today is worse than during the "Sixties scoop"
John Beaucage is the former Grand Chief of the Union of Ontario Indians, and was recently commissioned by the Ontario Ministry of Children and Family Services to draft a report on the situation of aboriginal children being taken away from their families and put into foster care and other institutions.
The report was released in June 2011, and his findings were shocking to many.
Amid the Murdoch Scandal, There is the Acrid Smell of Business as Usual
Submitted on August 21, 2011By John Pilger - Znet
Long before it was possible to hack phones, Murdoch was waging a war on journalism, truth, humanity, and succeeded because he knew how to exploit a system that welcomed his rapacious devotion to the “free market”. Murdoch may be more extreme in his methods, but he is no different in kind from many of those now lining up to condemn him who are his beneficiaries, mimics, collaborators, apologists.
A Life Worth Less Than Train Fare
Submitted on August 21, 2011By MIKE KING - Counterpunch
Another young, unarmed black man, Kenneth Harding, has been gunned down, shot numerous times in the back as he fled, his empty hands in the air in broad daylight. His crime had been a simple train fare evasion for which San Francisco police executed him in the street. Dozens of witnesses saw a sight that has become commonplace in US cities, capturing images with cell phones of police surrounding the man and watching him struggle and writhe from a distance, in a swelling pool of his own blood.
Riot, Rap and Racism in Cameron’s Britain
Submitted on August 21, 2011By Alexander Billet - August 20th, 2011
Perhaps the players have been switched out, along with some minor script changes, but the story remains the same: moral depravity, tied up to one degree or another in hip-hop culture, seeking to invade a respectable, mannerly western civilization and rot it from the inside. It doesn’t take a political mind to see how racist this is...Fortunately, this line of thought hasn’t gone unchallenged.
Fact: There is a Link Between Cuts and Riots
Submitted on August 21, 2011By Jacopo Ponticelli and Hans-Joachim Voth - Tuesday 16 August 2011
In a recent study, we focused on the link between austerity measures and unrest. We analyzed a large number of countries, over almost a century, to unearth some empirical regularities. In two studies, we analyzed unrest in 28 European countries from 1919 to 2009, and in 11 Latin American countries since 1937. What we found is a clear and positive statistical association between expenditure cuts and the level of unrest.
POVERTY PROTEST AT LOBLAWS; ‘GIVE THE BILL TO DALTON McGUINTY!’
Submitted on August 20, 2011Falsified New York Times Middle East Reports
Submitted on August 20, 2011They appear daily like weeds on all topics. As a result, New York Times reports aren't fit to read, let alone print. August 18 was no exception, publishing lies about Libyan insurgent victories.
U.S. and European Powers Demand Resignation of Syria’s Assad
Submitted on August 20, 2011By Niall Green - WSWS
As with the NATO war against Libya, the US and its European allies are seeking to intervene in Syria in order to secure a better strategic foothold in the region, while intimidating the mass working class opposition to capitalist dictatorship that has emerged across the Middle East, resulting in the overthrow of former Western allies Hosni Mubarak in Egypt and Zine El Abidine Ben Ali in Tunisia.
America Is a Spark Away From Riots of Its Own
Submitted on August 20, 2011By Bill Boyarsky - August 11, 2011
As President Barack Obama tried to calm a United States facing the threat of financial disaster, riots raged across the Atlantic in London and other British cities. Could it happen here, as our nation adopts British-style austerity and suffers through worsening unemployment? It certainly could, just as it has in the past.
Aliens May Destroy Humanity to Protect Other Civilizations
Submitted on August 20, 2011By Ian Sample - Common Dreams
It may not rank as the most compelling reason to curb greenhouse gases, but reducing our emissions might just save humanity from a pre-emptive alien attack, scientists claim...Watching from afar, extraterrestrial beings might view changes in Earth's atmosphere as symptomatic of a civilization growing out of control – and take drastic action to keep us from becoming a more serious threat...
One in Four California Families Can't Afford Food for Their Kids
Submitted on August 20, 2011By Raul Rodriguez - Saturday, August 20, 2011
One in four California households with children reported food hardship, according to a new analysis of Gallup data released last Thursday by the Food Research and Action Center...“It sends a clear signal of economic distress, particularly for families with children...The answers to the question reveal there are times that these families are going without eating a meal, or the parents are skipping a meal for their children, or children are skipping meals.”
Who's Streets? Our Streets! An Interview with Hamilton Copwatch
Submitted on August 20, 2011August 14, 2011 - Linchpin
"The motivation behind the formation of Hamilton CopWatch is...the same drive which has given rise to CopWatch groups across this continent and beyond for over the past 20 years: a deeply felt need to construct cooperative sources of protection against police abuse. In the face of a local police force whose daily operations threaten the safety, well-being and dignity of our communities, we have been compelled out of necessity to seek out our power in numbers, as an organization dedicated to placing a greater degree of accountability upon cops in our neighbourhoods."
Two Striking Verizon Workers Facing 18 Months Jail for Blocking Scab Truck
Submitted on August 20, 2011By Tom Eley - 20 August 2011
Two striking Verizon workers, Susanna Short, 37, and Leabern Kennedy, 44, arrested on a picket line in the town of Norton, in southwest Virginia on August 8, could face up to 18 months in jail and a $3,500 fine, according to local press accounts. The women were arrested for allegedly blocking a vehicle of a strike-breaker from entering a Verizon parking lot.
David Cameron and the Conservative's Not-so Anti-Government Victim Blaming
Submitted on August 19, 2011By Paul Street - August 19, 2011
Anti-government rhetoric is often a ruse...State-capitalist elites within and beyond England and the U.S. only want to shrink...the parts of the public sector that serve the social and democratic needs of the non-affluent majority. Under the corporate, imperial and neo-liberal wisdom that reigns across the all too narrow ideological spectrum in both the U.S. and the UK...the portions [of the state] that serve the opulent minority and dole out punishment for the poor and enemies of empire and inequality at home and abroad...remains well fed.
Eretz Yisrael: Lawless, Corrupt and Dysfunctional
Submitted on August 19, 2011What do you call a country that persecutes occupied people and one-fifth of its own population for not being Jewish? An illegal occupier for over 44 years, suffocating over 1.6 million Gazans under siege! A nation practicing torture, persecution, and racism as official policies! A modern day Sparta, glorifying wars and violence!
Austerity is Euphemism for Class War Waged by Rich [Video]
Submitted on August 19, 2011By Michael Truscello - Dissident Voice
The world is dying, and capitalists are making record profits as it dies. There are more slaves and billionaires than ever before. The military-industrial complex is the largest it has ever been...In this context, poor and working people have been [told]...to reduce their expectations for the future and for their quality of life in the present...Now is not the time to "restore the middle class," the message from Big Labour; now is the time to restore human dignity and prevent the current crisis from being our last...We need a revolution, not a reformation.
Whither the Dollar?
Submitted on August 19, 2011The US economy is the big exception in global capitalism: its national credit and the wealth of the world are the same.
The Unholy Land
Submitted on August 19, 2011SchNEWS - Friday 19th August 2011 | Issue 784
The machine-gunning of an Israeli bus and the subsequent air-raids on Gaza represent another dangerous turn of the screw for Palestine. Anxious to rescue themselves from their own domestic discontents...another border war might be just what the Israeli authorities want...While it’s the shocking attack on the Israeli bus that’s grabbed the headlines, the slow grind of the occupation is the reality on the ground.
The Chaos of Order
Submitted on August 19, 2011By Boaventura de sousa Santos - August 19, 2011
Between the neo-liberal credo and the urban rioters there is a fearful symmetry. Social indifference, arrogance, unfair sharing of sacrifices are sowing chaos, violence, and fear. Tomorrow, the sowers, taking offence, will argue that what they sowed had nothing to do with the chaos, violence, and fear haunting our cities today. The true disorderly are in power...
Images from Unist'hot'en Camp
Submitted on August 19, 2011These images were taken at the Unist'hot'en camp, which has been set up to protect the unceded lands of the Unist'hot'en people from a series of oil and gas pipelines proposed by the likes of Enbridge, Pacific Trails, and others. The cabin that you see in the images is directly in the right of way of one of the proposed pipelines.
Downtown Eastside Workers Call for Boycott of Pantages/Sequel 138 Condo Project
Submitted on August 19, 2011August 15, 2011 - The DTES is not for Condo Developers
...[A]s advocates, service providers, and front-line and outreach workers who are committed to serving the Downtown Eastside, we support the DTES Community Resolution opposing condos in the heart of this neighbourhood. We would not want to be complicit in a project that will further displace, impoverish, and police residents of the Downtown Eastside and make people feel more unwelcome in their own neighbourhood.
RIP: America's Anti-War Movement
Submitted on August 19, 2011United for Peace and Justice says nothing about war and occupation of Iraq, not enough about Afghanistan, the lawlessness of all US wars, why they're waged, other illegal wars against Libya, Pakistan, Yemen, and Somalia, support for Israeli belligerence against Palestinians, as well as denouncing them all as Washington-sponsored imperial aggression.
In Wake of British Riots, New York Police Prepare for Unrest
Submitted on August 19, 2011By Bill Van Auken - WSWS
New York police anti-riot units assembled last week at a training facility on Randall’s Island to prepare for an outbreak of civil unrest similar to those that have occurred recently in Britain...The riot training was held just days after the New York City Police...announced the formation of a new “juvenile justice unit”...to troll Internet social media sites like Facebook and Twitter in search of any indication of impending disturbances.
The Forbidden Truth is an Insurrection in Britain
Submitted on August 19, 2011By John Pilger - Znet
For the young at the bottom of the pyramid of wealth and patronage and poverty that is modern Britain...there is never surprise. Their relationship with authority is integral to their obsolescence as young adults. Half of all black British youth between the ages of 18 and 24 are unemployed, the result of deliberate policies since Margaret Thatcher oversaw the greatest transfer of wealth from the bottom to the top in British history. Forget plasma TVs, this was panoramic looting.
New York Parents Losing Custody of Kids After Being Caught With Tiny Amounts of Marijuana
Submitted on August 18, 2011By Sarah Seltzer - August 18, 2011
...[T]he NYPD continues to arrest a disproportionate number of Black and Latino young men for low-level pot-related offenses, leading to a cycle that cripples the community. Even worse...is the fact that when an arrest isn't made or charges aren't filed, people caught with tiny amounts of marijuana can lose their kids.
Shadow Warriors
Submitted on August 18, 2011By CONN HALLINAN - August 18, 2011
For decades the U.S. military has waged clandestine war on virtually every continent on the globe, but, for the first time, high-ranking Special Operations Forces (SOF) officers are moving out of the shadows and into the command mainstream. Their emergence suggests the U.S. is embarking on a military sea change that will replace massive deployments, like Iraq and Afghanistan, with stealthy night raids, secret assassinations, and death-dealing drones.
Rick Perry: Extremist White America's Evangelical Hope
Submitted on August 18, 2011Texas-based commentator Molly Ivans called Rick Perry "despicable" and much more. Ridiculing him as "Gov. Goodhair," she compared him to George Bush, saying, "O Please, Dear God, Not Another One," quoting a country song.
Youth Sentenced to Years in Jail for Posting Facebook Notices During British Riots
Submitted on August 18, 2011By Robert Stevens - 18 August 2011
The state clampdown against working class youth in Britain continues unabated. On Tuesday, crown court judges in England handed down long jail sentences to two young men for posting comments on Facebook...Jordan Blackshaw, 20, and Perry Sutcliffe-Keenan, 22, were not involved in any disturbances. But at Chester Crown Court they were sentenced to four years imprisonment for “intentionally encouraging another to assist the commission of an indictable offence...”
Facebook Caves to the Prison-Industrial-Complex
Submitted on August 18, 2011By KENNETH E. HARTMAN - Counterpunch
In a decision setting back prisoners' rights and helping to advance the interests of prison bureaucrats and their guard union allies, Facebook announced plans to work with the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to shut down pages set up for prisoners...This Facebook nonsense is right along with the standard fear mongering tactics of the prison bureaucrats and their guard allies.
Rioting by Underclass Brits has Long History
Submitted on August 18, 2011By Stephen Hume - August 17, 2011
...[I]t's creepily fascinating to watch England's moneyed over-class distance itself from the social context in which the recent riots occurred...Knee-jerk recrimination from a British over-class and its apologists, blinkered by self-interest, follows a predictable pattern..."Social problems like poverty and unemployment were once understood as injustices that sprang from flaws within capitalism...Yet today they have become understood as the consequences of personal behaviour, individual defects and even choice."
Calling BS on the Media: Great Moments in Fight-Back Journalism
Submitted on August 17, 2011Riots in the UK may have caused a headache for the police services and businesses in the country, but they've also caused problems for pundits and reporters alike.
Above, Darcus Howe calls out the BBC for completely ignorning the context to the UK riots in relation to racism.
National Campus and Community Radio Association of Canada joins BDS movement
Submitted on August 17, 2011From the streets to the radio airwaves, Palestine will be free!
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: AUG 10 2011 -- The National Campus and Community Radio Association (NCRA), an organization representing 82 radio stations from every corner of Canada, adopted a motion at its annual general meeting on June 10, 2011, in the city of Halifax to endorse the call for Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (or BDS) against Israeli apartheid.
Saskatchewan Nuclear Waste Protest Walk Reaches Steps of Legislature
Submitted on August 17, 2011Setting out from Pinehouse Lake on July 27, Debbie Morin thought she had only a few allies for a walk to protest nuclear waste storage in Saskatchewan. By the time the 820-kilometre walk finished in Regina on Tuesday, Morin and the other walkers said thousands were on their side.
Canada's Hawkish Foreign Policy at Odds with Popular Priorities
Submitted on August 17, 2011By Paul Weinberg - Tuesday, August 16, 2011
The military lobby has sought to re-brand Canada "as a nation forged in fire", dating back to World War I when the country lost about 60,000 soldiers in combat..."I don't believe it has been entirely successful..."The military has gone on a huge public relations campaign at our expense since 2006...to increase a military presence at public gatherings and sports. To try to convince Canadians that the military must be a central institution in Canadian life and indeed that military spending should go up."
Daily Rogue State Israeli Lawlessness
Submitted on August 17, 2011Overnight, Israeli jets bombed Gaza, killing at least one resident and wounding seven or more others (including a child) in a series of lawless raids.
Toronto Considers a Complete Ban on Panhandling
Submitted on August 17, 2011By John Bonnar - rabble.ca
The attacks have been coming for a dozen years. But this time it’s coupled with attempts at major funding cuts for food programs, shelters and drop-ins, which will inevitably lead to more panhandling...["T]hey’re trying to cut people off at both ends..."
Britain: The Stench of a Police State
Submitted on August 17, 2011By Julie Hyland - WSWS
The state repression and right-wing hysteria unleashed in response to youth rioting in London and other cities reveal the preparations of the ruling class for police-state forms of rule...Cheered on by the Labour Party, Prime Minister David Cameron and his Conservative-Liberal Democrat government have organized vicious state repression, authorizing the use of water cannons and plastic bullets and the possible use of the army against further social unrest.
Elections in Kanehsatà:ke: Real Change?
Submitted on August 17, 2011I’ve never voted in band council elections—ever. I can’t. My conscience won’t let me participate in or support a racist system that’s deliberately designed to deny me of my political, social, religious and spiritual rights. This same system hems me in with regulations that continue to treat me as a “ward of the state”.
Files attached to this post:
Falsified Major Media Reports on Libya
Submitted on August 17, 2011Major media specialize in what they do best: truth inversion, not doing what journalists are supposed to do - their job, especially covering imperial wars for dominance and rich spoils.
Nova Scotia NDP Says "No" to Essential Services for Disabled [Audio]
Submitted on August 17, 2011By Jim Guild and Melissa Albiani - Halifax Media Co-op
Siphoning thousands of dollars from a special needs program for the disabled while pumping tens of millions into a convention centre is an NDP “betrayal” said many in attendance at a Halifax news conference on Aug. 16...The change in regulations eliminates special needs assistance for drugs and treatments not covered by [health care], such as massage therapy, psychological counseling and a range of alternative medications...
NDP says “No” to essential services for disabled
Submitted on August 17, 2011Siphoning thousands of dollars from a special needs program for the disabled while pumping tens of millions into a convention centre is an NDP “betrayal” said many in attendance at a Halifax news conference on Aug. 16.
Preventative Medicine: Rallying Today for the Future of Health Care
Submitted on August 17, 2011Citizens' group launches 3-year campaign to protect and extend medicare in 2014
Act now, or watch publicly-funded health care creep away in three years.
That’s the message from a local citizens’ group launching a long-term campaign to “protect, strengthen and extend public health care” in Canada.
60 Per Cent of Arrests in Toronto Lead to Strip Searches
Submitted on August 17, 2011August 17, 2011 - CBC News
More than 60 per cent of people arrested by Toronto police last year were forced to undergo a strip search, according to police statistics...But a police accountability group says routine searches are against the law and alleges Toronto police are using the practice to humiliate and intimidate people.
Netanyahu Spurns Social Justice Demands
Submitted on August 16, 2011Unaffordable housing prices ignited mass social justice protests in Israel. At issue is settlement developments at the expense of other construction, creating a supply/demand imbalance enough to cause prices to skyrocket. Israelis demand that issue be addressed responsibly.
Australian Court Freezes Former Guantánamo Bay Prisoner’s Bank Accounts
Submitted on August 16, 2011By Richard Phillips - WSWS
Following a brief hearing on August 3, the New South Wales Supreme Court froze all bank accounts related to proceeds from David Hicks’s book, Guantanamo: My Journey, published last October...The case...is a vindictive political attack, orchestrated by the Gillard Labor government, seeking to punish and silence Hicks, and intimidate others whose fundamental legal and democratic rights have been abused in the “war on terror.”
Canada Drastically Raises Cost of Criminal Pardons
Submitted on August 16, 2011By Paula Mallea - August 16, 2011
The Harper government is about to raise the cost of obtaining a pardon to $631 from $150. Yet when the fee was raised from $50 to $150 last year, one person who helps offenders obtain pardons said it was "earth-shattering for hundreds of our clients." Quadrupling the new fee will ensure that very few offenders can afford to apply.
Who Will Save Libya From Its Western Saviours? (Not the Left)
Submitted on August 16, 2011By JEAN BRICMONT and DIANA JOHNSTONE - August 16, 2011
This little war in Libya is exposing NATO as both criminal and incompetent...It is also exposing the organized left in NATO countries as totally useless. There has perhaps never been a war easier to oppose. But the organized left in Europe is not opposing it...[T]he European left has missed its opportunity to come back to life by opposing one of the most blatantly inexcusable wars in history.
The UK Riots and the Criminality of Jack Straw
Submitted on August 16, 2011By Robin Beste - August 16, 2011
Jack Straw, former foreign secretary in Tony Blair's government, was quick to his feet, following David Cameron's speech on the UK riots..."We need more prisons," Straw told Cameron and the House of Commons...He may get his wish, looking at some of the sentences that have already been handed down in the hundreds of cases rushed through emergency courts -- no doubt at the government's bidding, to show that instant retribution will take precedence over justice.
Capitalism's New Era
Submitted on August 16, 2011By Shamus Cooke - August 16, 2011
For the wealthy and corporations this is a life and death struggle. The Great Recession has already bankrupted the banks and corporations who were not fit enough to survive under a crumbling market economy. The existing companies are thus forced to squeeze more work for less pay out of their workers, since labor is the most flexible cost of any business. Pushing labor costs down -- and...social programs -- is thus the priority of the corporations and their paid-for politicians across the globe, since the global economy is tightly connected and they all play by the vicious rules of the market.
GroundWire - August 14th
Submitted on August 16, 2011Prisoner Justice Day Edition
August 14th – Prisoner Justice Day Edition
This episode of GroundWire was produced and hosted by Carly Forbes
The Headlines
Economic End Times
Submitted on August 16, 2011Despite a deepening global depression, establishment economists are in denial. On June 9, the Wall Street Journal said those surveyed expected slow, steady growth through 2011, despite high US unemployment, a housing depression, European sovereign debt in crisis, and the unreported insolvency of major French and other banks.
Halifax professor's response to NDP MPs' position on Convention Centre
Submitted on August 16, 2011At a breakfast meeting yesterday in Halifax, Defense Minister Peter MacKay announced that the federal government was "in" on the proposed--and locally controversial--convention centre to be built in downtown Halifax. The Canadian government confirmed it would kick in $51.4 million to the $156 million--and growing--project.
Pervasive Unemployment and Poverty in London Areas Hit by Riots
Submitted on August 16, 2011By Paul Stuart - WSWS
The British political establishment and its state apparatus are imposing the most vicious class justice against young people accused of involvement in the riots that swept London and other cities last week...Nearly 3,000 people have so far been arrested as police continue to raid homes across the capital...Despite the fact that most have no previous convictions, more than two thirds of those rounded up are being held without bail and subject to punitive custodial sentences.
Mourning the Passing of Wendy Babcock
Submitted on August 16, 2011By Tanya Gulliver - August 16, 2011
While I don't always miss [Toronto], there is nowhere I would rather be at this moment. My friend, Wendy Babcock, was found dead at her home on Aug. 9, an apparent suicide...[Wendy] also had an incredible life. She became an activist for the rights of sex workers. She won the first Public Health Champion award from the City of Toronto in 2008 for her activist work...RIP Wendy Babcock -- you are loved and already missed.
New Firetraps for Downtown Vancouver?
Submitted on August 15, 2011A report last month on anticipated fire code changes for Surrey tossed out this tidbit:
Meanwhile, more proposals for taller, wood-frame buildings are being accepted, including a six-storey, wood-frame building proposed for Vancouver — a $30.6-million social housing project slated for 1050 Expo Blvd. (Sherlock, July 18)
The CBSA and the Olympics: More Secret Lists
Submitted on August 15, 2011After I got my Privacy Act request back from the Canada Border Services Agency, I requested information on three nameless project IDs. What I got back were the files related to the 2010 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games.
Toronto in Review: August Part I
Submitted on August 15, 2011Ford breaks some promises and keeps others, more G8/G20, remembering Babcock, and we've finally found homes for the poor
London Burns: Causes and Consequences of the Riots - An Anarchist Perspective
Submitted on August 15, 2011Saturday, August 13, 2011 - Workers Solidarity Movement (Ireland)
...George Orwell provided a useful general starting point for how anarchists view riots, writing..."I have no particular love for the idealised 'worker' as he appears in the bourgeois Communist's mind, but when I see an actual flesh-and-blood worker in conflict with his natural enemy, the policeman, I do not have to ask myself which side I am on." What happened in London and spread elsewhere was not some idealized glorious proletarian uprising, but the very real explosion of anger that occurs when years of poverty, police repression, and racism finally reach bursting point.
London Riots and the Big Picture
Submitted on August 15, 2011By Gilad Atzmon - Dissident Voice
...British politicians seem to be very enthusiastic about ‘moral interventionism’ in other countries. But I believe that the time is ripe for Britain to be subjected to a true form of moral interventionism — an influx of spiritual ideas that would redeem us all from mammon-seeking and hard Capitalism. Yet it is increasingly clear that within the British political spectrum we will not find any such force that could lead to such a transformation, and that is indeed both a volatile and tragic situation
New York Times Disinformation, Denial and Suppressing Vital Truths
Submitted on August 15, 2011America's "newspaper of record" makes painful reading for alternative media consumers, knowledgeable about what Times correspondents, opinion contributors and editorial writers misreport, conceal, or lie outrageously about.
Post-Civilization in Theory and Practice
Submitted on August 15, 2011A new publishing house in Minneapolis, Subsect Press, will be releasing a book to describe how a non-hierarchical, regenerative and anti-capitalist society can meet human needs.
Turkey Issues Ultimatum to Syria
Submitted on August 15, 2011By Niall Green - 15 August 2011
The United States, the European imperialist powers, and their NATO ally, Turkey, are preparing for possible military action against Syria...Turkey’s foreign minister reportedly presented a letter from Turkish President Abdullah Gul to President Bashar Assad of Syria on Tuesday as an “ultimatum.” In the letter, Gul is believed to have warned his Syrian counterpart that Turkey would consider participating in an international intervention force.
The New Face of War: Special Ops and the Spectre of Terrorism
Submitted on August 15, 2011By JOHN GRANT - August 15, 2011
What is the most powerful nation in the world with the largest, most expensive, most lethal military in the history of mankind to do when the good times turn bad, the money goes funny and class warfare breaks out on the home-front?...The answer for the United States seems to be a growing concentration on what is known as Special Operations, which includes Special Forces, Seals and a host of other lethal military forces that emphasize mobility, efficiency, secrecy and unaccountability.
Israeli Social Justice Protests Continue
Submitted on August 15, 2011What US print and broadcast media won't report, Israeli and other sources cover extensively, because what's ongoing is too significant to ignore. Happening at the same time across the Middle East, Europe, and elsewhere, it's just a matter of time before it erupts in America, most often a late bloomer.
Finance Capital
Submitted on August 15, 2011With its loan business, the banking industry achieves something remarkable. In its hands, money is capital — many times over. It makes the deposits of its cash depositors grow through interest payments. It puts money at the disposal of its loan customers, which strengthens their power to generate profits and both obligates and enables them to make interest payments. The net interest generated by the banking industry increases the capital with which it conducts its business.
Police Complaints Commission Lied About Police Shooting that Sparked British Riots
Submitted on August 15, 2011By Robert Stevens - WSWS
The [Independent Police Complaints Commission] has not accounted for the lies told by its representatives, but there can be only one explanation: it was continuing in its longstanding role of shielding the police from criticism, much less accountability, for their murderous actions...[Mark] Duggan was only the latest of hundreds of people who have been killed while in police custody over the last decade. Not a single police officer has been convicted in connection with these deaths.
A “Culture of Silence” Around Sexual Assault
Submitted on August 15, 2011Concordians for a Safer University Community campaigns for a sexual assault centre on Concordia's campus
Concordia University does not have its own sexual assault centre, nor does it have an exclusive and explicit policy addressing sexual assault. These two facts are little known to Concordia students but all too obvious to those who have been victims of such abuse.
Conservatives Threaten Wife of Asbestos Victim
Submitted on August 15, 2011Monday, August 15, 2011 - CBC News
The federal Conservative party has sent a threatening email to the widow of an asbestos victim in the latest chapter of Canada's debate over the hazardous mineral...Michaela Keyserlingk, whose husband Robert died in 2009 of mesothelioma, has been running an on-line banner since the spring that reads, "Canada is the only western country that still exports deadly asbestos!"
Accused G20 "Maiden of Mayhem" Wins Bail Challenge
Submitted on August 15, 2011August 15, 2011 - Toronto Media Co-op
On Tuesday August 9th 2011 in Provincial court in Toronto, a judge agreed to a bail variation for accused G20 "Maiden of Mayhem" Kelly Pflug Back which replaces her house arrest with a ten o'clock curfew and allows her to have unrestricted contact with her fiance Julian Ichim on the condition that he sever his ties with anti poverty group SOS.
Accused G20 "Maiden of Mayhem" wins bail challenge.
Submitted on August 14, 2011On Tuesday August 9th 2011 in provincial court in Toronto, a judge agreed to a bail variation for accused G20 "Maiden of Mayhem" Kelly Pflug Back, which replaces her house arrest with a ten o'clock curfew and allows her to have unrestricted contact with her fiancé Julian Ichim on the condition that he sever his ties with anti-poverty group SOS.
Demonizing the Young Won’t Heal UK Cities
Submitted on August 14, 2011By Laurie Penny - Znet
...[I]t is vital that we resist the easy story of "us" and "them"...The disorder will continue until we acknowledge that the young people who rampaged through Manchester, Liverpool, Brixton, Tottenham and 50 boroughs of London are as much a part of the "real Britain" as those who nobly came out the next morning to clear the debris from their trashed high streets. The language of "true Brits" defending themselves against a feral underclass is precisely the language of social division that predicated these riots.
168 Children Killed in Drone Strikes in Pakistan Since Start of Campaign
Submitted on August 14, 2011Friday, August 12, 2011 - Common Dreams
In an extensive analysis of open-source documents, the Bureau of Investigative Journalism found that 2,292 people had been killed by US missiles, including as many as 775 civilians...The strikes, which began under President George W Bush but have since accelerated during the presidency of Barack Obama, are hated in Pakistan, where families live in fear of the bright specks that appear to hover in the sky overhead.
Italian Unions Threaten General Strike Over New Austerity
Submitted on August 14, 2011Sunday, August 14, 2011 - Common Dreams
Italy's second austerity package in less than a month met with a chorus of criticism a day after becoming law, with the largest union federation threatening a general strike over the "injustice" of the measures...CGIL union confederation leader Susanna Camusso [said]...the package "hits only those who already pay their taxes," adding that the date of a general strike would be decided at an emergency union meeting on August 23.
Throwing Rocks at the Israeli Occupation – And Western Prejudice Too
Submitted on August 14, 2011By Linah Alsaafin - 11 August 2011
It is [absurd]...to even consider throwing rocks...a violent act...The message is very clear: rocks are thrown at the enemy as a way of underscoring the Palestinians’ disapproval of a foreign occupier from intruding and expropriating their lands and homes...I asked a few Nabi Saleh children why they throw rocks. Their responses were simple: We don’t want the army here. This is our village. They are occupying us.
Riots and the Underclass
Submitted on August 14, 2011By ALEXANDER COCKBURN - August 12-14, 2011
[The] endless wars on crime and drugs...have engendered not merely 2.3 million prisoners but a vindictive hysteria that pulses on the threshold of homicide in the bosoms of many of our uniformed law enforcers. Time and again, one hears stories attesting to the fact that they are ready, at a moment's notice or a slender pretext, to blow someone away, beat him to a pulp, throw him in the slammer, sew him up with police perjuries and snitch-driven charges, and try to toss him in a dungeon for a quarter-century or more.
Riots Across Britain: Perhaps More than Meets the Eye
Submitted on August 13, 2011Observers attribute public anger to unemployment, poverty, inequality, and overall social injustice, but perhaps more is also involved.
NATO’s Puppet Regime in Libya Falls Apart
Submitted on August 13, 2011By Peter Symonds - WSWS
The sacking of the entire Benghazi-based Libyan opposition cabinet this week has exposed the anti-democratic, faction-riven character of the regime that the US and its European allies are seeking to impose on Libya. The self-proclaimed Transitional National Council (TNC)...is being consumed by violent internal conflicts.
The Terror of Campus Cops
Submitted on August 13, 2011By MALINI JOHAR SCHUELLER - Counterpunch Weekend Edition
...[C]ampuses are increasingly becoming unsafe – not because of a lack of security but an overabundance of it. Amnesty International and the United Nations have declared tasers to be torture devices, but if a student insists on taking the podium and asking more questions than allotted during a public talk, chances are that he will be subdued by a number of officers and then tasered by the campus police.
Why Are We Leaving It to Our Children to Hold the Police to Account and Redistribute Wealth?
Submitted on August 13, 2011By Rebel Griot - Dissident Voice
I am not blaming Cameron, or the politicians, or the media. These are our enemies. They are being true to their class...They are doing their jobs perfectly. I am blaming those of us who do care, who do want equality and an end to classism, racism and imperialism. We need to step up and provide leadership and organization, and until we do that our criticisms of the youth are hollow and deceitful. If we leave it to children to bring accountability to policing and to redistribute wealth...we shouldn’t be surprised if they do a messy job.
Congressional Junkets to Israel
Submitted on August 13, 2011Eighty-one House members, one fifth of the chamber, will visit Israel during the traditional summer recess, instead of addressing festering local issues at home during the nation's gravest economic crisis too serious to ignore.
UK Enlists Rigid U.S. "Super Cop" to Assist on Protests
Submitted on August 13, 2011By AFP - AlterNet
Prime Minister David Cameron has asked former New York police commissioner Bill Bratton to act as a consultant to British police on how to curb street violence..."The prime minister spoke to Bill Bratton today to thank him for agreeing to make himself available for a series of meetings...to share his experience of tackling gangs while police chief in Boston, New York and Los Angeles"...Bratton was a key figure in imposing "zero tolerance" policing in New York.
Media Demand Mass Arrests, Reprisals Against UK Rioters
Submitted on August 13, 2011By Robert Stevens - WSWS
Magistrates’ courts in London and other cities in England are handing down the harshest possible sentences to those accused of involvement in the riots that swept across London and other cities in England earlier this week...Any slander against working class youth can now be repeated without challenge in the media — with some openly calling for violent reprisals.
U.S. Gives $20 Million for Venezuelan Opposition in 2012
Submitted on August 13, 2011By Eva Golinger - August 13, 2011
Since Hugo Chavez won his first presidential elections in 1998, the US government has been trying to remove him from power. With multimillion-dollar investments, every year Washington’s agencies advise and aid anti-Chavez groups with their campaigns and strategies against the government...Washington continues to seek new mechanisms to achieve its eternal objective of recovering control over Venezuela’s strategic resources – the largest oil reserves on the planet – and this means putting an end to Hugo Chavez.
Modeling Alternative Societies
Submitted on August 13, 2011The Halifax left consider strategies
A group of local labour, peace and feminist activists are looking to Toronto, Quebec and the UK for ideas on what could be done in Halifax.
A Message to a Country on Fire
Submitted on August 12, 2011August 9, 2011 - Anti Cuts Space (UK)
We offer unapologetic solidarity and support to those involved in the UK uprisings these past nights. This sentiment extends to both the rioters and to those communities affected by them...We put the blame for the riots solely on the structural inequalities inherent and persistent in our country and the continued theft of the material resources of the working class. Simply put, the conditions of many today are poverty, experienced alongside marginalization and racism at the hands of the state. They call this an “austerity programme.” They shall reap what they sow.
The Big Smoke: Why Did It Take This Long?
Submitted on August 12, 2011SchNEWS - Friday 12th August 2011 | Issue 783
It seems to us that everyone is asking the wrong question – why did they riot? When in fact the more obvious question would be – why did it take ‘til now? A toxic combination of neo-liberalism and the gangsterism that goes with the criminalization of drugs has created ghettos in London and throughout the U.K. Everyone knows it – and the ‘feral underclass’ has become the acceptable focus of snobbery, hate and fear.
New York Times Support for U.S. Imperial Wars
Submitted on August 12, 2011The Times never met a US imperial war it didn't endorse or designated enemy it didn't vilify. Nor are concerns ever raised about constitutional and international law issues, crimes of war and against humanity, or mass slaughter and destruction.
Riots Are the Fruits of Austerity
Submitted on August 12, 2011By Emma Gallwey - August 12, 2011
To dismiss the serious violence and chaos as mindless and purely criminal is to ignore its context. It is also to give into this argument which has gained great sway in Europe and America, that state action to create jobs and expand support for the unemployed and vulnerable, cannot help economic growth. For all those who deny the comparisons with Greece, welcome to the fruits of austerity.
Liberal Imperialism and the Refusal to Learn
Submitted on August 12, 2011By Maximilian C. Forte - August 10, 2011
One detects a strong tendency among liberal imperialists and assorted self-designated "progressives" to think of their actions and thoughts as being above history...At the last stage of a dying empire, imperial advocates...are still gripped by the conviction that theirs is the highest stage of human achievement...This is shallow humanitarianism...a humanitarianism at the end of empire and as bankrupt as the state powers whose authority the humanitarians invoke.
The London Olympics and the London Riots
Submitted on August 12, 2011By Dave Zirin - August 12, 2011
...[E]very historical precedent points to an increased crackdown in the months ahead, which will only further fan tomorrow’s flames. We have a collision coming between the Olympic Monolith and the poor, angry youth of Great Britain. Conflict is ensured if David Cameron’s ultimate response continues to be, “Let them eat beach volleyball.”
British Parliament Demands Violent Repression of Youth Riots
Submitted on August 12, 2011By Julie Hyland - 12 August 2011
The disturbances that have swept large parts of London and other cities and towns across England are the direct product of the vast growth in poverty, deprivation and police brutality faced daily by many working class youth...But any reference to this reality was strictly off limits...With much of London, Birmingham, Manchester, and other inner-city areas on virtual police lock-down, [British politicians] denounced working class youth and shrilly demanded that the state prepare for violent repression of the population.
Repression in Israel and Bahrain
Submitted on August 12, 2011Police state repression in Bahrain and Israel.
The London Riots in Historical Perspective: Policing the Crisis
Submitted on August 11, 2011By ASHLEY DAWSON - Counterpunch
...Black communities in Britain are still subject to heavy, racially targeted policing tactics...[and] police still operate with total impunity...[A]uthority figures continue to discuss criminality without any reference to the context of austerity...that has prevailed for the last three decades, and that has intensified to an unprecedented level under the current Tory government...The uprisings in London and other parts of Britain draw attention to these injustices, just as the Brixton uprising did several decades ago.
Studies Suggest the Rich Are Different — And Not in a Good Way
Submitted on August 11, 2011Wednesday, August 10, 2011 - Common Dreams
Psychologist and social scientist Dacher Keltner says the rich really are different, and not in a good way: their life experience makes them less empathetic, less altruistic, and generally more selfish...“We have now done 12 separate studies measuring empathy in every way imaginable, social behavior in every way, and some work on compassion and it’s the same story...Lower class people just show more empathy, more pro social behavior, more compassion, no matter how you look at it.”
RIP Wendy Babcock
Submitted on August 11, 2011While I don’t always miss TO, there is nowhere I would rather be at this moment. My friend, Wendy Babcock, was found dead at her home yesterday; an apparent suicide.
Sustaining Protest Energy in Israel
Submitted on August 11, 2011Israelis struggle for social justice.
Abdelrazik and Charkaoui Supporters Denounce Leak of False Information, Demand Kenney's Resignation
Submitted on August 11, 2011By Project Fly Home and Coalition Justice for Adil Charkaoui - August 10, 2011
Project Fly Home denounces in the strongest of terms the leak of false secret information about Abousfian Abdelrazik...Project Fly Home also denounces Jason Kenney's assertion that people are misguided if they support people whom the Canadian government has designated as "harmful" to Canada. This assertion attacks all who stand up for the marginalized and the excluded in society and carries overtones of a dangerous state authoritarianism.
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The Coalition Justice for Adil Charkaoui is outraged by the leak of a secret document containing completely false allegations against...Adil Charkaoui, whose security certificate case was struck down in 2009. Noting that an almost identical leak happened in 2007, the Coalition is calling for a public inquiry and asking other Canadians to join it in challenging Minister Jason Kenney's unacceptable comments.
Fracking denial machine
Submitted on August 11, 2011"It's not over," say shale gas opponents at Stanley blockade
Submitted on August 11, 2011U.S. Retaliation in Afghanistan in Wake of Helicopter Downing
Submitted on August 11, 2011By Bill Van Auken - WSWS
The Pentagon claimed Wednesday to have killed the resistance fighters responsible for last week’s downing of a helicopter that resulted in the worst US losses to date in the decade-old war in Afghanistan...Gen. John Allen...told the media that an air strike early Tuesday by a US F-16 fighter jet killed Mullah Mohibullah, a Taliban leader, along with several fighters, including the one who fired a rocket-propelled grenade (RPG) into a CH-47 Chinook helicopter on August 6, killing 30 American troops...
UK Riots: The Left Must Respond (Two Articles)
Submitted on August 11, 2011August 11, 2011 - Znet
All over the world, the rise of neo-liberalism has been accompanied by the rise of the security state...The victory for the capitalist class that neo-liberalism represents produces howls of protest from the oppressed. Sometimes they have political direction, and sometimes they don’t. The response of the Conservatives...is to deny any real grievances and unleash further state-led violence. If we want to build an alternative based on economic justice and freedom, our first job is to ensure that ordinary people aren’t cheering them on.
Imperial Plans for Libya Post-Gaddafi
Submitted on August 11, 2011Libya is Obama's war. At the same time, America hasn't won one since WW II. Hopefully Libyans will keep that record intact and retain their sovereignty, free from intolerable imperial dominance.
Australian Labor Government Moves to Cut Thousands Off Disability Benefits
Submitted on August 11, 2011By Will Morrow - 11 August 2011
...[T]he Labor government has announced that eligibility for the disability pension will be sharply restricted as of January 1. The changes aim to disqualify almost 40 percent of new...applicants, effectively shoving them onto meager unemployment benefits and forcing them to try to find work despite injuries or disabilities...Those affected will be among the most vulnerable members of society.
Growing Israeli Tyranny
Submitted on August 10, 2011In Israel, Arabs have no rights. In fact, they're treated more like fifth-column threats than citizens with equal rights as Jews. They never had them or do now.
Neo-Liberalism in Britain Reaps What it Sows
Submitted on August 10, 2011By Terry Conway & Billy Curtis - August 10, 2011
We have to resist attempts to use what has happened on the streets...to further crackdown on civil liberties and attack the right to protest. Rubber bullets have been issued more widely to police on the streets of mainland Britain than ever before – we know how lethal they can be from their use in the North of Ireland. Water Cannon have never been used here, but will now be available to the police at 24-hours notice, while bringing in the army is still being debated.
"Order and Annihilation" Exhibition Reveals Link Between German Police Force and Nazi Regime
Submitted on August 10, 2011By Verena Nees - WSWS
In the German post-war period, it was long claimed that only the Gestapo (Nazi secret police) were involved in the mass murder and the extermination policies of the Nazis. An exhibition, Order and Annihilation – The Police and the Nazi Regime at the German Historical Museum in Berlin, thoroughly dispenses with this assertion. All sections of the police, including regular uniformed and criminal detection forces, were willing tools of the Nazis.
Anarchists Respond to the London Riots
Submitted on August 10, 2011August 9 2011 - Libcom
It is no accident that the riots are happening now, as the support nets for Britain's disenfranchised are dragged away and people are left to fall into the abyss, beaten as they fall by the batons of the Metropolitan Police. But there should be no excuses for the burning of homes, the terrorizing of working people. Whoever did such things has no cause for support.
“African People Pulling Together”
Submitted on August 10, 2011African Nova Scotians Consider Joining the African Union at Recent Town Hall Meeting
“I’m a black man from a hostile environment,” says David Horne.
16,000 Police Deployed in London to Put Down Youth Revolt
Submitted on August 10, 2011By Robert Stevens - WSWS
...[L]ong-simmering discontent over worsening social conditions and police brutality is being completely passed over by the official political parties and the media. Manifestly, police killings are acceptable to these layers, but any response to it is to be met with the full force of the state...The most vicious rhetoric has been employed against young people involved in the disturbances by representatives of all the main political parties.
The Greatest Depession
Submitted on August 10, 2011One sign is the enormous worldwide financial shock, erasing nearly $8 trillion of equity wealth since late July. Another is teetering global economies, notably across Europe and America. Still another is growing poverty, deprivation, and despair for millions without jobs, enough income, or futures.
California Prison Crisis Sparks Statewide Hunger Strike: An Interview with Isaac Ontiveros of Critical Resistance
Submitted on August 10, 2011We discuss the recent statewide hunger strike initiated by prisoners at Pelican Bay State Prison. The strike is put in context, alongside a statewide grassroots movement calling for cuts in prison spending to address California's budget crisis, and a recent US Supreme Court ruling that calls for the reduction of California state prisoners by at least 30,000, in response to overcrowding.
As London Explodes in Riots, There is a Context That Can't Be Ignored: Brutal Cuts and Enforced Austerity Measures
Submitted on August 10, 2011By Nina Power - August 9, 2011
Decades of individualism, competition and state-encouraged selfishness – combined with a systematic crushing of unions and the ever-increasing criminalization of dissent – have made Britain one of the most unequal countries in the developed world.
Australia’s Repression of BDS Movement Coordinated with Israel
Submitted on August 10, 2011By Kim Bullimore - 9 August 2011
According to...[Victorian Police Inspector Michael Beattie], the police had specifically sought to target the leadership of the [BDS] protests, in particular those activists the police perceived as “operating a command and control function,” in order to diminish the possibility of well-coordinated demonstrations...“[T]he protesters had their own way” for too long and a “decision [was] made to draw a line in the sand and make arrests.”
A String of Town Halls Unite African Nova Scotians
Submitted on August 10, 2011The start of a Nova Scotia SRDC Chapter
The first of several Town Halls in Nova Scotia was held during the Annual Africville Reunion on July 30th. The Sixth Region Diaspora Caucus (SRDC) and Ujaama, a community development initiative for African Nova Scotians (ANS), hosted the event.
Dispatches from post-terror Norway
Submitted on August 9, 2011Last month, a white, far-right, Christian fundamentalist in Olso, Norway orchestrated a terror-attack which bombed downtown Olso and killed between 60-70 people and injured close to 100 others on at a Labour-party youth camp near the Norwegian capital.
Friends of the Media Co-op in Norway have offered the following thoughts on the attacks:
Media Co-op Investor: July
Submitted on August 9, 2011We Blow-Up the Image of SNC-Lavalin
Welcome to Media Co-op Investor!
Note: this will be the last company entry in the Media Co-op Investor Series. The final pieces in the series will feature stories on our annual report to media coop fake-shareholders, the currency markets, and living (stock market) free.
The British Riots: Why Here and Now?
Submitted on August 9, 2011By Tariq Ali in London - Tuesday, August 9, 2011
The coalition politicians...made the mess...They privilege the wealthy. They let it be known that judges and magistrates should set an example by giving punitive sentences to protesters found with pea-shooters...They never seriously question why no policeman is ever prosecuted for the 1000-plus deaths in custody since 1990.
Major Police Clampdown as Riots Spread Across London and Other UK Cities
Submitted on August 9, 2011By Julie Hyland - WSWS
A massive police presence has been established across parts of the capital in an attempt to crush the eruption of social anger that has affected areas of north and southeast London and is spreading to other UK cities...As evidence mounts of a police provocation, a concerted campaign is underway...to blame the disturbances on “copy-cat criminals” and “looters” with the aim of justifying further state repression.
New York Times Opposition to Palestinian Self-Determination
Submitted on August 9, 2011The New York Times, Washington and Israel oppose an independent Palestine.
New Orleans Police Verdict Reveals Post-Katrina History
Submitted on August 9, 2011By Jordan Flaherty - Znet
In an historic verdict with national implications, five New Orleans police officers were convicted on Friday of civil rights violations for killing unarmed African Americans in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and could face life in prison when sentenced later this year. The case...was the most high-profile of a number of prosecutions that seek to hold police accountable for violence in the storm’s wake.
Tottenham: "This is What You Get - Fire"
Submitted on August 9, 2011By Clarence Williams - August 08, 2011
Violence...bleeds from every pore of the capitalist state: from dire impoverishment and starvation through to police brutality, all the way up to war. But this kind of violence is routinely excused: it's either necessary to 'keep us safe', or it's just the way things are...Property damage is not violence - it doesn't physically hurt anybody. And it doesn't come out of nowhere: time after time, it is a desperate response to the violence of the police.
Baseball's Bigotry
Submitted on August 9, 2011By Dave Zirin - August 9, 2011
[San Francisco Giants pitcher Ramon] Ramirez...is not an “illegal” anything. Like every one of the 30 percent of Major League players born outside the United States who aren’t citizens, he lives and works here under a P-1 visa, often referred to as an entertainment visa....But then, no human being is actually “illegal” at all. It’s just an ugly slur that’s been mainstreamed.
No Joy in Mudville
Submitted on August 9, 2011Forced austerity is hammering workers globally because Obama and other Western leaders won't provide help when it's most needed. As a result, living standards are plummeting as economies teeter.
No One Is Illegal Solidarity with Dene Suline Camp
Submitted on August 8, 2011August 8th, 2011 - No One Is Illegal-Vancouver
We are writing to express our support and best wishes for the Dene Suline members of the Cold Lake First Nation holding a Peace Camp at Berry. We honour your struggle to defend your land where ceremonies and sacred burials are held...[T]he settler’s court ordered you to take down tents and remove vehicles from the shore of the English Bay Provincial Recreation Area; yet you remain. We praise your courage as you struggle on the ground and in the courts to defend your traditional lands and sacred sites from being turned into an RV park.
London Violence Expands, Extends Into Third Night
Submitted on August 8, 2011August 9, 2011 - Al Jazeera
Riots have spread to new areas of London while looting erupted in the cities of Birmingham and Liverpool as Britain's worst violence in decades extended into the third night...Looting by groups of hooded youths spread to Ealing in west London and Camden in the north. Television pictures showed groups of men running through the streets and smashing shop windows.
Captive Genders for Prisoner Justice Day
Submitted on August 8, 2011Fatal Police Shooting Sparks Riot in North London
Submitted on August 8, 2011By Julie Hyland - WSWS
Rioting broke out in Tottenham, north London on Saturday night, following protests over the shooting death of Mark Duggan, a 29-year old father of four, who was killed by police on Thursday.
Destabilizing Syria
Submitted on August 8, 2011The stakes are high. The entire region is affected. It's very similar to what began in Libya, pitting imperial powers against ruling governments for destabilization and control. In Libya, it's by war for regime change, colonization and plunder. In Syria, it's to establish another client state, no matter who heads it.
Struggles Erupt Across Chile
Submitted on August 8, 2011By Jason Farbman - August 08, 2011
WORKER AND student struggles have broken out across Chile in recent months in a series of challenges to the new right-wing government and its polices...High school students are at the center of the new movements. Since mid-June, tens of thousands of students and teachers have been fighting back against the administration of President Sebastian Piñera, a right-wing billionaire.
Escalating Street Protests in Israel
Submitted on August 8, 2011Israelis struggle for social justice.
Chicago Police Shooting Spree: Halfway Through 2011, 43 Shot, 16 Dead
Submitted on August 7, 2011By Asraa Mustufa - August 2, 2011
Eighty-six percent of those shot by police this year...were black...Black residents also constituted the majority of those injured or killed in police shootings in previous years...“This is what we believe as a whole as black people, that police officers here in Chicago are targeting our black children.”
"We've Had Enough:" Spending Cuts and Police Spark UK Riots
Submitted on August 7, 2011Sunday, August 7, 2011 - Common Dreams
Anger at high unemployment and cuts in public services, coupled with resentment of the police, contributed to an explosion of violence and looting in a deprived London neighborhood, residents said Sunday..."This is the ghetto, this is the slums, they don't care about us. I've been stopped outside my house by the police for no reason. There's no jobs ... but still they want to cut benefits. We ain't got no way to survive...There's injustice and we've had enough..."
Through the Tangle: wetlands and development at Trent University
Submitted on August 7, 2011From the Downstream Stories series
From Knowing the Land is Resistance
America's Cratering Economy
Submitted on August 7, 2011Slow-motion fiscal collapse perhaps explains its current state after decades of mismanagement. The chickens are now coming home to roost big time, hitting ordinary people hardest, suffering under a protracted Main Street Depression.
Meet the American Right-Wing Hatemongers Who Inspired the Norway Killer
Submitted on August 7, 2011By Max Blumenthal - August 2, 2011
Breivik may have developed his destructive sensibility in the stark political environment of a European continent riveted by mass immigration from the Muslim world, but his conceptualization of the changes he was witnessing reflect the influence of a cadre of far-right bloggers and activists from across the Atlantic Ocean. He not only mimicked their terminology and emulated their language, he substantially adopted their political world-view.
A Civil Society Strategy for Revitalizing the Left
Submitted on August 7, 2011By Steve D'Arcy - August 07, 2011
The news media, the police, and state institutions have always waged a determined struggle against the Left; but the Left used to be able to overcome these obstacles and make real gains, building powerful mass movements that sometimes racked up real victories. Above all, the Left was once able to claim the allegiance of huge numbers of people, but at least in North America this is no longer the case.
Vilifying Muslims in America
Submitted on August 7, 2011American Muslims are persecuted for political advantage.
Charges Mount of NATO War Crimes in Libya
Submitted on August 7, 2011By Patrick Martin - 6 August 2011
The war was launched by the United States, France and Britain on the pretext of defending civilians from the regime of Muammar Gaddafi, but NATO warplanes have routinely bombed civilians, both in Gaddafi-held territory and even in the areas held by the NATO-backed “rebels”...At the same time, in the Mediterranean, thousands of refugees fleeing the war zone are persecuted by the NATO powers, just as they were before the war.
The S Word
Submitted on August 7, 2011No, not that S word. And no, it's nothing to do with the Showtime program about a bunch of lesbians living in the city, just trying to make it work.
Union Organizing Goes DIY at JJ Bean
Submitted on August 7, 2011By Dawn Paley - Vancouver Media Co-op
Even though their beans may be fair trade, local coffee shops like Waves, Blenz and JJ Bean continue to be staffed by precarious, non-union workers, a fact which a committed group of baristas is out to change...The most recent attempt at union organizing in Vancouver coffee shops has taken place at JJ Bean, a hip coffee chain with nine locations in Vancouver and a tenth in North Vancouver.
Union Organizing goes DIY at JJ Bean
Submitted on August 7, 2011Baristas aim to spread the spirit of union organizing to coffee shops throughout the city
Even though their beans may be fair trade, local coffee shops like Waves, Blenz and JJ Bean continue to be staffed by precarious, non-union workers, a fact which a committed group of baristas is out to change.
America in Decline
Submitted on August 6, 2011By Noam Chomsky - Znet
By shredding the remnants of political democracy, the financial institutions lay the basis for carrying the lethal process forward – as long as their victims are willing to suffer in silence.
Canadian Government Accused of 'Unprecedented' Tar Sands Lobbying
Submitted on August 6, 2011Friday, August 5, 2011 - Common Dream
Canada is worried that proposed European legislation would penalize imports of oil derived from its tar sands and so restrict access to the European market for Canadian oil. This might in turn embolden US legislators to do similar. To prevent this...Ottawa has been conducting an intensive lobbying campaign aimed at preventing the British government and the European commission from watering down the legislation.
UK Human Rights Lawyer Condemns Police Brutality at Protests
Submitted on August 6, 2011By Tracy McVeigh and Mark Townsend - Saturday 6 August 2011
Michael Mansfield QC said "outrageous" tactics were being employed to quash political protest and peaceful demonstrations in the UK, within politics, the police and the judiciary...Mansfield said the right to protest in Britain was under serious threat and that people who wanted to go on peaceful demonstrations now had to weigh up the risks they faced from heavy policing and draconian sentencing.
Anarchists Are Under Attack Because Their Ideas Are Gaining Ground
Submitted on August 6, 2011By Alasdair Thompson - Infoshop News
The conflation of anarchism and criminality is a key tactic in the state offensive against anarchists, driven by the fear that anarchist ideas are gaining ground within a new politics that eschews parties and favours direct action...The mainstream left has failed to achieve the change we require in society...[A] more radical break with the status quo is now our only option.
U.S. Prepares for Military Intervention in Somalia
Submitted on August 6, 2011By Susan Garth - WSWS
The Obama administration is preparing a new military intervention in Somalia under the pretext of humanitarian concern for starving drought victims...Just as the bombing campaign in Libya was launched with appeals to save the civilian population of Benghazi from slaughter, so now a fresh intervention is being prepared in Africa supposedly to save the starving children of Somalia. This is a cynical exercise in public deception.
U.S. Helicopter Shot Down by Afghan Insurgents: SEAL's from Unit That Killed Bin Laden Among Dead
Submitted on August 6, 2011By Jon Boone - The Guardian
Thirty-one members of the American special forces have been killed in Afghanistan in the deadliest incident of the 10-year war when the Taliban shot down a US helicopter...The majority of the dead were from Navy Seal Team 6, the unit that killed Osama bin Laden in a night-time raid deep into Pakistan.
Another look at the Mantech Files: ICTs as COIN, networking occupation & more
Submitted on August 6, 2011This morning I decided to go for Round II with last week's Fuck FBI Friday document release by Anonymous and Antisec. Click here to check out Round I, which provides more general context.
From Cradle to Graves: As the West Cause More Problems in East Africa Than Drought
Submitted on August 5, 2011SchNEWS - Thursday 4th August 2011 | Issue 782
Western countries have spent decades propping up dictators, imposing free market ‘reforms’, bombing rebels, bribing officials and flogging military equipment. The aim of these policies wasn’t to support rebuilding a continent ravaged by colonial powers and proxy wars, but merely to protect and further western ‘interests’...The west is just as instrumental in the oppression of ordinary Africans as it was in the days of colonies and empires, just in a less overtly racist manner.
Iceland's On-Going Revolution
Submitted on August 5, 2011By Deena Stryker - August 05, 2011
“We were told that if we refused the international community’s conditions, we would become the Cuba of the North. But if we had accepted, we would have become the Haiti of the North.”
WikiLeaks Expose U.S. Conspiracy in Bolivia
Submitted on August 5, 2011By Federico Fuentes - August 04, 2011
Recently released United States embassy cables from Bolivia have provided additional insight to the events leading up to the September 2008 coup attempt against the Andean country’s first indigenous president...On September 9, 2008, Bolivian President Evo Morales expelled then-US ambassador Philip Goldberg as evidence emerged that Goldberg and embassy officials had been meeting with several key civilian and military figures involved in an unfolding coup plot.
35 Years of Harassment: Why is Leonard Peltier in Solitary?
Submitted on August 5, 2011By JEFF ARMSTRONG - August 5-7, 2011
Peltier has been held in solitary confinement under oppressively hot conditions since June 27 for minor prison disciplinary violations his attorney maintains he did not commit...[A]ge 66 and in declining health, [Peltier] now faces at least another month in what he describes as "a steel and concrete box with no ventilation."
Syrian consul silent about crackdown
Submitted on August 4, 2011Members of Vancouver’s Syrian community and Amnesty International demonstrated outside of the Syrian consulate to protest human rights abuses by the Syrian government on Thursday, and to demand the resignation of Sawsan A. Habbal, Syria’s consul in Vancouver.
Updated G8/G20ISU Org Charts
Submitted on August 4, 2011While there's not a full organizational chart for the G8-G20ISU, I did ask the ATIP office for a more-readable chart. I have the Abbreviated Chart, as well as a more comprehensive Ops Chart. These charts are far more elaborate than the old V2010ISU charts that were originally found by whoever requested them.
Toronto: Cops Kill Disabled Man Out With Mother to Buy Pizza
Submitted on August 4, 2011By Michael Woods - August 03, 2011
Charles McGillivary went for one of his frequent walks with his mother around 8:30 p.m. Monday, this time to buy a slice of pizza...But before he got the chance, the 45-year-old collapsed and died while being arrested by police...“He was never any trouble . . . he was an innocent man...He went to buy a slice of pizza, and the police grabbed him . . . that’s not fair.”
Victoria Police Harass Native Speaker and Her Family at Workshop About Police Violence Towards Natives
Submitted on August 4, 2011Wednesday August 4, 2011
At approximately 4:45pm on Monday July 25, Victoria Police entered Camas Books...disrupting a presentation by former Native Youth Movement member Billie Pierre on the lack of police accountability when committing violence towards native people...The police had attempted to apprehend Billie Pierre's 4 year old child, and were holding the child and grandmother in a paddy wagon outside the venue.
NATO's Libya War Unraveling
Submitted on August 4, 2011The Washington/London/Paris axis totally miscalculated, failing to understand how committed Libyans are to defend their sovereignty. Moreover, after commander Younis' assassination, TNC leadership and rebels are in disarray. Since his death, many assumed their own autonomy, vying with the TNC and other gangs for control.
Australian Labor Government Prepares to Forcibly Deport Refugees
Submitted on August 4, 2011By Will Morrow - WSWS
The Australian government orchestrated a show of force by riot police this week to broadcast a worldwide message of the methods that will be employed to carry out its new policy of deporting refugees to Malaysia...Images of training drills on Christmas Island by the Australian Federal Police...were given front-page coverage in Murdoch media outlets on Monday. Prime Minister Julia Gillard issued a blunt warning to asylum seekers: “We will do what is necessary to ensure people who are taken to Malaysia under the agreement are taken.”
Shut Out of the Pickton Inquiry
Submitted on August 4, 2011By Krystalline Kraus - August 3, 2011
A British Columbia inquiry into the mishandling of the Robert Pickton police investigation is scheduled to begin in October of this year. Major concern has arisen from groups shut out of the inquiry for lack of government funding to participate...The government inquiry was called to examine why police failed to catch serial killer Robert Pickton as he murdered sex workers and others from the Downtown Eastside...."I am deeply disappointed that we are unable to bring forward the voices and concerns of Aboriginal women and girls to this inquiry as we had planned."
Toronto in Review: July-August
Submitted on August 4, 2011The Ford Gong Show, violent cops, less RIM jobs and more subway surveillance, Toronto turns out for bike lanes and against service cuts
Budget Cutting Perfidy
Submitted on August 4, 2011It's all over but the mourning. Obama signed the deal from hell. Understand clearly what happened. A bipartisan conspiracy took step one to ending America's social contract. Subsequent ones will follow.
Evidence Grows of Norwegian Mass Murderer Breivik's Ties to British Far-Right
Submitted on August 4, 2011By Robert Stevens - WSWS
It has been established that Breivik was a member of the far-right Progress Party and its youth wing in Norway from 1997 to 2007...It is increasingly clear that Breivik also shared ideological and organisational connections with fascists in Britain. Among the right-wing forces that Breivik was in contact with, he had the closest ties to the English Defence League (EDL) and British National Party (BNP).
Dead artists paint a different picture
Submitted on August 4, 2011DOWNTOWN EASTSIDE - Famous dead artists came out of the artwork today to denounce statements by condo developer Marc Williams.
A Secret War in 120 Countries
Submitted on August 4, 2011By Nick Turse - Znet
...U.S. Special Operations Command (SOCOM) was established in 1987...Made up of units from all the service branches, including the Army’s “Green Berets” and Rangers, Navy SEALs, Air Force Air Commandos, and Marine Corps Special Operations teams...SOCOM carries out the United States’ most specialized and secret missions. These include assassinations, counter-terrorist raids, long-range reconnaissance, intelligence analysis, foreign troop training, and weapons of mass destruction counter-proliferation operations.
The Algonquin Resurgence
Submitted on August 3, 2011Quebec minister’s visit to First Nations takes me down memory lane from 50 years ago
Some news has come across my e-mail that the Wolf Lake Algonquin community in Quebec has been given a grant of some $200,000 by the Quebec government to rebuild a camp located on the shore of Lake Kipawa, which will be developed into a centre for ecotourism.
Haiti: WikiLeaks Shows Why UN Occupation Should End
Submitted on August 3, 2011By Mark Weisbrot - Monday, August 1, 2011
United States diplomatic cables released by WikiLeaks make it clearer than ever that foreign troops occupying Haiti for more than seven years, under the banner of the United Nations, have no legitimate reason to be there...They show that this a US occupation, as much as in Iraq or Afghanistan, and it is part of a decades-long US strategy to deny Haitians the right to democracy and self-determination.
Hard Right Extremism in America and Europe
Submitted on August 3, 2011Anders Breivik's July 22 Oslo rampage highlighted a problem far greater than him.
The Grumpy Diplomats of the Israeli Rogue State
Submitted on August 3, 2011By Ilan Pappe - August 03, 2011
The obvious discomfort the three [Israeli] diplomats felt and expressed is not due to any cold shoulder shown to them in local foreign ministries or governments. And therefore while many Europeans can make their lives miserable, their respective governments can still look the other way...This is why we should ensure that not only Israeli ambassadors feel uncomfortable in European capitals, but also all those who support them or are too afraid to confront Israel and hold it to account.
Letter to the Guardian Regarding its Venezuela Coverage
Submitted on August 3, 2011August 1st 2011 - venezuelanalysis.com
We, the undersigned, ask why the Guardian ignored one of Venezuela’s most serious human rights problems – the assassination of hundreds of peasant activists since 2001 by gunmen hired by wealthy land owners...Peasants have clearly been targeted in order to defeat the Chavez government's efforts to remedy the gross inequities in land distribution across Venezuela. The victims of this violence, and the truth, deserve better.
Big Pharma Targets Alcoholics and Addicts
Submitted on August 3, 2011By Martha Rosenberg - August 3, 2011
Pharma is mongering the “dual diagnosis” of alcoholics and addicts – they have both an addiction and a psychiatric illne$$ – with so much unbranded advertising and Madison Avenue spin, nationally known major rehab centers are telling their patients they have “co-occurring disorders,” in a repudiation of basic substance abuse recovery theory.
California Police Shootings Prompt Popular Outrage [Videos]
Submitted on August 3, 2011By Juan Verala Luz and Kevin Kearney - WSWS
The frequent recurrence of [murders by police] is attributable to many factors, including the increasing hostility of police to the community — particularly the youth, homeless and mentally ill populations — and the increasingly militaristic training received by officers. Police know very well that they can beat citizens, commit perjury and even kill with virtual impunity. In the few instances they are actually caught on film or cornered by witnesses, they know that every effort will be made to shield them from accountability and prosecution.
Montreal: Fatal Police Shooting Remains Unresolved
Submitted on August 3, 2011By Christian MacDonald - Media Co-op
It has been almost two months since police shot and killed 40 year old Mario Hamel and 36 year old Patrick Limoges, early on the morning of June 7th, near Berri-UQAM metro station...[T]he flowers and the blood have been washed from the pavement, the broken windows replaced, and the memory of protests faded. But the memory of Mario Hamel and Patrick Limoges is not forgotten by those who knew and cared about them.
Pantages in Play
Submitted on August 2, 2011Where Will the Antics End?
[ Text and photo originate with Rider Cooey / Editing and posting by Joseph Jones ]
Start and Stop of Unsafe Pantages Demolition
Israel: Rogue State Land of Inequality
Submitted on August 2, 2011Growing millions worldwide understand Israel's decades-long project to colonize Palestine. Too few, however, know how growing social and economic inequality affects most Israelis. Since at least the mid-1980s, state policies have disproportionately favored the rich, causing wealth disparities, unemployment, poverty, hunger, homelessness and a gradual loss of social benefits.
Bin Laden Raid 'Was Strictly to Kill Him'
Submitted on August 2, 2011By Jon Swaine - Common Dreams
The raid on Osama bin Laden's hideout in Pakistan was a mission to kill him, and there was "never any question" he would be captured alive, one of those directly involved has claimed..."There was never any question of detaining or capturing him...It wasn't a split-second decision. No one wanted detainees."
New York Catholic School Populated by Black and Latino Students Hires Racist Principal
Submitted on August 2, 2011By Erica Hellerstein - August 2, 2011
Frank Borzellieri, a conservative writer and educator with a history of publicly racist proclamations and campaigns, was hired as principal of the Bronx’s Our Lady of Mount Carmel School in 2009...Prior to his position as principal, Borzellieri taught English [where]...he attempted to create a resolution to teach students the “superiority” of U.S. culture. While serving as a school board member...in Queens, Borzellieri pushed to ban “anti-American” literature from school libraries...
Nationalist Individualism: A View of the Norway Attacks from Latin America
Submitted on August 2, 2011By Hector Mondragon - Znet
...[T]he reduction of the state that the Right trumpets and the neo-fascists try to impose by way of intimidation seems to only affect social programs. It is related, however, to the unbelievable growth of military budgets and of wars, that grow the public debt and fiscal deficit. A greater insanity than that of one lunatic terrorist.
1,500 At Fredericton, NB Anti-Fracking Rally
Submitted on August 2, 2011Over 1,500 people from across New Brunswick and beyond marched through Fredericton yesterday to demand an end to hydraulic fracking and shale gas exploration in the province.
Fatal Police Shooting Remains Unresolved
Submitted on August 2, 2011Montreal- It has been almost two months since police shot and killed 40 year old Mario Hamel and 36 year old Patrick Limoges, early on the morning of June 7th, near Berri-UQAM metro station. At approximately six a.m. police officers found Hamel on St. Denis near St. Catherines opening garbage with a knife.
Kingston: On the Shores of the Tannery Grounds
Submitted on August 2, 2011...There was once a tannery here that leaked its poisons into the soil for decades, and hazardous waste continued to be dumped here even after the old tannery was torn down. The popular story is that the Tannery Grounds are poisonous, unsafe, and need to somehow be dealt with.
Making Sense of the Federal Election in Canada
Submitted on August 2, 2011By Herman Rosenfeld - August 1, 2011
Harper appeals lie with right-wing populism: blaming government bureaucracy for the failure of healthy job creation; targeting tax cuts as the only way of increasing the disposable incomes of people who haven't had wage increases in decades; disorganizing and discouraging working-class loyalties and common identities; and forming a new militaristic patriotism as the symbol of national unity as the appeals of a common social citizenship through the welfare state is undermined.
Tuesday Morning After: August 2, 2011
Submitted on August 2, 2011Interview with Innu attorney and human rights advocate Armand Mackenzie
Bipartisan Debt Deal Betrayal
Submitted on August 2, 2011Political Washington's agreement is a cancer, touching all working Americans. Expunge it or perish socially, economically, and politically under the yoke of punishing poverty and neo-serfdom, a future no one should tolerate.
Syrian Regime Cracks Down on Protests
Submitted on August 2, 2011By Niall Green - WSWS
Syrian security forces allegedly killed around 100 people in the Syrian city of Hama over the weekend. Since April there have been several large demonstrations against the regime of President Bashar Assad in Hama, in the northwest of Syria, and repeated crackdowns by regime forces.
6 Creepy New Weapons Police and Military Use to Subdue Unarmed People
Submitted on August 2, 2011By Rania Khalek - August 1, 2011
The US is at the forefront of an international arms development effort...From microwave energy blasters and blinding laser beams, to chemical agents and deafening sonic blasters, these weapons are at the cutting edge of crowd control...Designed to control crowds, clear streets, subdue and restrain individuals and secure borders, they are the 21st century's version of the police baton, pepper spray and tear gas.
Somewhere Between Truth and Fiction
Submitted on August 2, 2011"Rob Ford and the Mysterious Case of the Flying Anarchist" comes to Montreal
You may have heard the one about Rob Ford and the Flipped Bird, but have you heard about Rob Ford and the Mysterious Case of the Flying Anarchist?
TRANSitioning Spaces
Submitted on August 2, 2011Organizations slowly becoming more trans inclusive
This article uses the singular, gender-neutral pronoun “they”.
UK "Anti-Terrorist" Cops: Anarchists Should be Reported
Submitted on August 1, 2011By Robert Booth - Sunday 31 July 2011
What should you do if you discover an anarchist living next door?...[A]ccording to an official counter-terrorism notice circulated in London last week...you must report them to police immediately..."Anarchism is a political philosophy which considers the state undesirable, unnecessary, and harmful, and instead promotes a stateless society, or anarchy. Any information relating to anarchists should be reported to your local police."
Time to Inflict Pain on the Terminally Ill
Submitted on August 1, 2011By Mark Steel - Monday, August 1, 2011
How do YOU suggest we cut Britain's deficit then?...So here's one answer, we could pay a bit less to ATOS, a private company that receives ￡100 million a year from the British government for assessing who should be cut off from disability benefit...The ATOS system has worked so well that in the past three years 160,000 people have successfully appealed against their decision.
Libya: What America's Media Won't Report
Submitted on August 1, 2011Corporate media lies, deception and betrayal of the public trust, supporting lawless imperial wars.
"Anarchists Are Like Tories" and Other Fairy Tales
Submitted on August 1, 2011By Joseph Kay - August 1 2011
Anarchism has been getting a lot of attention lately, including some oft-peddled but easily refuted myths...[T]he result has been a torrent of disinformation ranging from the spectacularly dishonest to the tragically ill-informed.
Why the West is Committed to the Murderous Rebels in Libya
Submitted on August 1, 2011By PATRICK COCKBURN - August 1, 2011
The nature of the civil war in Libya has been persistently underplayed by foreign governments and media alike. The enthusiasm in some 30 foreign capitals to recognize the mysterious self-appointed group in Benghazi as the leaders of Libya is at this stage probably motivated primarily by expectations of commercial concessions and a carve-up of oilfields.
FBI/CIA Tried to Get American Lawyer to Betray Arab and Muslim Clients
Submitted on August 1, 2011By Sherwood Ross - Znet
Federal agents from the FBI and CIA/FBI Joint Terrorist Task Force tried to get a distinguished international lawyer to inform on his Arab and Muslim clients in violation of their Constitutional rights to attorney-client privilege...When the lawyer refused, he said the FBI placed him on a "terrorist watch list."
Winnipeg Copwatch Conference: Seeking Alternatives to the Police
Submitted on August 1, 2011By David P. Ball - rabble.ca
It's been just over a year since the gates of "Torontonamo Bay"...finally closed. During that weekend, the largest police deployment in Canada's history...led to gunpoint raids, dozens of activists facing years of legal battles, and emerging stories of threats, homophobia, and sexual harassment..."These incidents are not isolated -- they are integral to policing...Until we produce a world that does not contain or produce police and prisons, we will never live in a world without violence or imagine alternatives."
Anonymous & Antisec Rock Mantech
Submitted on July 31, 2011Yesterday I downloaded the Fuck FBI Friday III/Mantech release, which was uploaded Friday to The Pirate Bay by Antisec & Anonymous, and this evening I thought I'd crack it open for a look. I'm astounded. Again.
July 31-First Nations' Languages Conference, Activist Group Infiltration, and Stop the Cuts! Toronto
Submitted on July 31, 2011GroundWire July 31st Edition
This week's edition produced and hosted by Sam Kriviak from CJSR in Edmonton on Treaty 6 land and traditional Cree territory.
The Headlines
Sam Kriviak | CJSR, Edmonton
America's Media: Dancing Around the Debt Debate Charade
Submitted on July 31, 2011In virtually all US managed news reports and opinions, supporting powerful interests at the expense of working Americans is standard policy.
Leftists of America and the World, Wake Up to Your Islamophobia!
Submitted on July 31, 2011By Paul Cochrane - July 30th, 2011
“When people ask me at conferences, ‘What should be done?’ I tell them to stop asking questions about Islam. Just stop. It is racist to ask ‘Why are the Muslims different?’ or ‘I want to understand the Muslims so I am going to read the Qur’an’”...[S]uch seemingly well-meaning questions about Islam by leftists...just goes to reinforce the notion of Muslims as the “Other,” set apart in need of “tolerance” and “understanding.”
The Ideological Roots of the Oslo Atrocity
Submitted on July 31, 2011By Stefan Steinberg - WSWS
...[T]here has been a concerted campaign by the bourgeois establishment in Europe to deny that the murderous rampage conducted by Anders Behring Breivik was motivated by anti-Islamist prejudices with deep roots in mainstream politics...[L]eading politicians and media commentators have gone to extraordinary lengths to play down their own role in encouraging the climate of xenophobic hatred which provided the background to Breivik’s attack.
Afghan Civilians Pay Lethal Price for New Policy on Air Strikes
Submitted on July 31, 2011By Brian Brady - Sunday, July 31, 2011
Civilians are bearing the brunt of the international forces' onslaught against the Taliban as the coalition rushes to pacify Afghanistan before pulling out its troops...Human rights groups warned that civilians are paying an increasingly high price for "reckless" coalition attacks, particularly aerial ones.
True Costs of the War on Libya
Submitted on July 31, 2011By CHARLES ABUGRE - July 29-31, 2011
...Libya is under invasion from air and sea bombardments directed by foreign special forces on Libyan soil. The purpose of the invasion is regime change. The aim of the bombs that are killing people and laying Tripoli to waste is for one purpose only, to help a rebel group they formed and armed to overthrow the Colonel Gaddafi regime...This is a sad time indeed. How else can one describe what is going on in Libya but a wicked, heartless folly?
Heading for Economic Ruin
Submitted on July 31, 2011Bad policies assure bad results. Destructive ones assure calamities. Well before Obama took office, bipartisan initiatives plotted a course for disaster.
The Biggest Threat to Western Values
Submitted on July 31, 2011By Tarak Barkawi - 27 July 2011
In the US, and increasingly even in Europe, the income differential between the poor and the wealthy already resembles that of banana republics. The downtrodden are asked to bear the burden of a financial crisis created by bankers...Neo-liberalism has only accelerated these processes at the heart of capitalist society. Here is a far more convincing threat to Western values and "social cohesion" than the lunatic fears of fascists.
WikiLeaks Task Force - DFAIT
Submitted on July 30, 2011The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade created a WikiLeaks Task force, and this was first reported by the king of ATIP, Ken Rubin. Given the fact that Mr.
Equal, but not the same
Submitted on July 30, 2011Food shortages are plaguing Somalia. Debt ceiling debates are overwhelming the United States. A mass slaughter has terrorized Norway. Still, the world is gay. This week, disparaging headlines across the globe were counterbalanced with (for the most part) encouraging news in the area of gay rights.
Abdul Fatah Younis Killing: War Death or Assassination?
Submitted on July 30, 2011The killing of Libya's National Transitional Counci military commander, Gen. Abdul Fatah Younis and two other rebel officers, "stirred fears that a tribal feud could divide" anti-Gaddafi forces.
Rebel General's Killing Sparks Crisis in Western-Backed Libyan Opposition
Submitted on July 30, 2011By Bill Van Auken - WSWS
The assassination Thursday of former Gaddafi official and military chief of the Benghazi-based Transitional National Council (TNC), General Abdel Fatah Younis, has raised the specter of a civil war within the Western-backed Libyan “rebels”...Younis's death...threatens to tear apart the TNC’s fractious alliance of ex-Gaddafi officials, CIA “assets” and Islamists precisely at the point in which the major powers...have recognized the council as the legitimate government of Libya.
Facebook is Diseased
Submitted on July 30, 2011By Michael Albert - Znet
...I say Facebook has the disease. What can I possibly mean by such a claim? Facebook? The modern day activist’s favorite weapon?...Well, I mean this. Facebook - and Google, Twitter, etc. - are massive corporate media machines driven by the dictates of accruing profit and maintaining the conditions of accruing profit. They care about sociality, information, truth, or justice only as means to profit and power.
Crossing the U.S. Border
Submitted on July 30, 2011By Syed Hussan - rabble.ca
"We are from the Department of Homeland Security and the Federal Air Marshall Service." Badges flashed and taken away...Its 9:30am on Thursday, July 28, 2011. I've just been put in an interview room with blood stains on the floor and clothes strewn around. I've been at the United States border...since 4:45.
Reflections on Freire Part II
Submitted on July 30, 2011Amy Winehouse Becomes Most Recent Member of 27 Club
Submitted on July 30, 2011By Kristen Gwynne - AlterNet
For rebellious teens and fans to whom rock stars offer a sense of belonging and righteousness denied by our parents -- and adults in general -- the Twenty-Sevens never grew old enough to move away from the edge. Instead, they hurled themselves over it, and their permanent youth is (perhaps creepily) comforting, especially to those for whom rock and roll is a lone sign of hope that we are not all doomed to be dull, that the mainstream fueling our angst is not the only future.
Rhetoric vs Reality: Ben Powless on the Harper Government [Video]
Submitted on July 30, 2011By Ben Powless - June 13, 2011
In Canada's history there have not really been any governments that have done good for Indigenous Peoples...But by the end of the Harper era...we could see the further destruction of our lands, the entrenching of poverty in Native communities, the unacceptable rise in violence against Aboriginal women, the tarnishing of the sacred treaties our ancestors signed to ALLOW foreigners to share the land, the increase in militarization of our communities, and more.
Pedagogy of the Unimpressed: Reflections on Schooling and the Work of Paulo Freire
Submitted on July 30, 2011Morality: The Good Conscience of Class Society
Submitted on July 30, 2011On bourgeois freedom, its barriers and their confirmation by a moral attitude.
Political Washington Fiddles While Rome Burns
Submitted on July 30, 2011As always, Obama did what he does best. He lied. His threat "is not remotely true. But it has become the scare theme for over a week," and will be repeated until political Washington agrees on a deal destroying America's social contract, claiming it was done to save it.
NDP Leader Forced to Temporarily Step Down: Jack Layton’s Right-Wing Record
Submitted on July 30, 2011By Richard Dufour - WSWS
Press commentary has focused on Layton's personal charisma...The main point of Layton's affability, however, is to hide the reactionary nature of his politics. He has been instrumental in the transformation of the federal NDP from a party of parliamentary protest into a respectable right-wing bourgeois party that, if called on to assume government responsibilities in Ottawa, would not hesitate to impose the full weight of the capitalist crisis on the backs of the Canadian working class.
Daily NATO War Crimes in Libya
Submitted on July 29, 2011NATO calls civilian targets legitimate ones, including one or more hospitals, a clinic, factories, warehouses, agricultural sites, schools, a university, one or more mosques, non-military related infrastructure, a food storage facility, and others.
Palestinian Civil Society Expresses Solidarity with People of Norway
Submitted on July 29, 2011By Palestinian BDS National Committee - July 27, 2011
Occupied Palestine-Palestinian civil society...wishes to express its sincere condolences to and deep solidarity with the people of Norway and to Arbeidernes Ungdomsfylking (AUF), the Norwegian labour youth party...after the massacre of last Friday committed by a far right fanatic...Palestinians stand with the people of Norway as they mourn the victims, and our hearts go out to the families and friends of those who have died.
Mass Protests Against High Cost of Housing in Israel
Submitted on July 29, 2011By Jean Shaoul - WSWS
The rent protests began two weeks ago. Tent cities have sprung up across the country to highlight the housing shortage and extortionate rents. What started as a largely middle class protest in Tel Aviv’s smart Rothschild Boulevard has been taken up by the National Union of University Students, which set up tent cities involving local people and students throughout Israel.
"Offensive and Ignorant Liar:" Downtown Eastside Outraged that Pantages Owner Calls Neighbourhood a "Dead Zone"
Submitted on July 29, 2011July 29, 2011 - FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Downtown Eastside residents are outraged at Pantages site owner and condo developer Marc William’s recent PR blitz declaring the DTES a “dead zone” with “no activity in the past 30 years except drug dealing”...“The DTES is an alive community, people live here. How can Williams get away with such poor-bashing statements? Williams is lying when he says that no one will be displaced. Condos displace low income residents by pushing up land values and rents.”
Downtown Eastside Outraged at Pantages Owner
Submitted on July 29, 2011Residents and Groups Respond to Marc Williams
Media Release: DTES Outraged that Pantages Owner Calls Neighbourhood a "Dead Zone"
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
ATTENTION: ALL NEWS EDITORS
DTES Outraged that Pantages Owner Calls Neighbourhood a "Dead Zone"
Community Calls Marc Williams "Offensive and Ignorant Liar"
The Sham Solidarity of Israel’s Zionist Left
Submitted on July 29, 2011By Budour Youssef Hassan - The Electronic Intifada
Many argue...that struggling shoulder-to-shoulder with Zionist leftists widens the support base for Palestine...This would be true if Zionists viewed Palestinians as equal partners but they do not. The whole idea of two states for two peoples as the only solution to the Palestinian-Israeli impasse...is predicated upon isolationism, exceptionalism and Zionists’ sense of moral righteousness and superiority to Palestinians which grants them the legitimacy to determine the problem, the solution and the means by which this solution shall be achieved.
Debt Ceiling Roulette
Submitted on July 29, 2011In this game, the house always wins. Bipartisan complicity stacked the deck against millions of working households, needing to know that political Washington is scamming them.
French Neo-Fascist Officials Endorse Norway Atrocities
Submitted on July 29, 2011By Kumaran Ira - 29 July 2011
Members of far-right parties across Europe have endorsed the mass killing last Friday carried out by a right-wing anti-Islamic extremist in Norway, Anders Breivik...Two prominent members of France’s neo-fascist Front National...published blog posts defending the mass killings carried out by Breivik, a former member of the fascistic Progress Party in Norway.
Obama Is No Victim of the Right Wing: He's Pandered to Corporate Interests for Years
Submitted on July 29, 2011By Jeff Cohen - July 25, 2011
...[T]he evidence is clear that Obama is an often-willing servant of corporate interests -- not someone reluctantly doing their bidding, or serving their interests only because Republicans forced him to...Since coming to Washington, Obama has allied himself with Wall Street Democrats who put corporate deregulation and greed ahead of the needs of most Americans.
The New Anti-Semitism
Submitted on July 29, 2011By URI AVNERY - July 29-31, 2011
[Accused right-wing terrorist Anders Breivik] is the prototype of a Nazi anti-Semite of the new wave. His creed consists of white supremacy, Christian fundamentalism, hatred of democracy and European chauvinism, mixed with a virulent hatred of Muslims...This creed is now sprouting offshoots all over Europe. Small radical groups of the ultra-Right are turning into dynamic political parties, take their seats in Parliaments and even become king-makers...
Victories over Ontario and BC Highways
Submitted on July 28, 2011Fights Continue in Montreal and Vancouver
This week the government of Ontario cancelled the controversial $6 billion Niagara to Toronto freeway. A broad coalition of groups vigorously opposed the highway across the Niagara escarpment, and pushed for investment in transit and freight rail instead.
Unanswered Questions in Norway Terror Attack
Submitted on July 28, 2011By Susan Garth - WSWS
This terrorist attack...has been consistently reported as the work of a crazed gunman who acted alone. The media and politicians are working assiduously to obscure the political motives of the killer, his connections to far-right and fascist organizations, and the political and moral responsibility borne by establishment parties and politicians in Europe and the US who have sought to appropriate the anti-immigrant and anti-Muslim program of the extreme right wing.
15 Years in Prison For Taping the Cops? How U.S. Eavesdropping Laws Are Taking Away the Best Defense Against Police Brutality
Submitted on July 28, 2011By Rania Khalek - AlterNet
Police brutality takes many forms around the country on a regular basis, particularly in poor and minority neighborhoods. Sometimes, the only method of accountability is a victim’s word...against that of an officer. Unsurprisingly, the police officer’s version of the story is often adequate for a judge to dismiss allegations of wrongdoing, unless there is hard evidence of misconduct, such as a video or audio recording...
Israeli Home Demolition Terrorism
Submitted on July 28, 2011Israel's demolition and displacement policies are serious breaches of international law. Nonetheless, they continue as official state policy to steal Palestinian land for Israelis, an issue Western media ignore, as well as other Israeli crimes of war and against humanity.
Behind Norway’s Kristallnacht
Submitted on July 28, 2011By Eric Walberg - July 28th, 2011
[Accused Norwegian terrorist Anders Behring] Breivik epitomises the new Euro right, which is both fanatically pro-Israel and anti-Muslim. Breivik even approves of a Caliphate for Muslims, as long as it is in the Middle East. This is similar to Hitler’s desire to push Jews out of Europe into their own Jewish state in Palestine...Euro neo-Nazism has the startling characteristic of being pro-Jewish, and wishes not to rid Europe of Jews, but of Muslims. If this requires terrorising and even killing a few million in the process, that is a price worth paying to make Europe pure again.
Youth Subdued: 8 Ways Young Americans Have Been Dominated
Submitted on July 28, 2011By BRUCE E. LEVINE - July 28, 2011
Traditionally, young people have energized democratic movements. So it is a major coup for the ruling elite to have created societal institutions that have subdued young Americans and broken their spirit of resistance to domination...[Young Americans] appear to have acquiesced to the idea that the corporatocracy can completely screw them and that they are helpless to do anything about it.
Toronto at a Crossroads: Will Ford's Austerity Agenda be Derailed?
Submitted on July 28, 2011By Jackie Esmonde - July 28, 2011
The City of Toronto budget cuts are just the local impact of the larger austerity agenda. They are not simply about surrendering to the neo-liberal dogma that budgets must be balanced. For right-wingers like Ford and company, cutting government spending is a political goal in itself...It also reinforces the message to public sector workers that their jobs are on the chopping block and won't be saved by money from other sources.
CKUT radio interview: Immigrant Workers' Centre on Bill C-4
Submitted on July 28, 2011Jamal Saad interviews Amy Darwish on the limitations of the refugee determination process in Canada.
Listen to Jamal Saad's July 2011 interview with Amy Darwish from the Immigrant Workers' Centre regarding the shortcomings of the Canadian government's refugee determination process.
Challenge the “No Demonstration” Condition
Submitted on July 28, 2011By Community Solidarity Network - July 28, 2011
On July 28, Mandy Hiscocks and co-accused Alex Hundert will be joined in court by the Canadian Civil Liberties Association in challenging the legitimacy of the bail condition not to “plan for, assist in planning for, attend or participate in any public demonstrations” that at least 18 people are currently saddled with as a result of the G20...“This condition is too broad and too vague. It gives the police and the Attorney General’s office far too much discretion as to how it is enforced and against whom...”
Tree-Sit Halting Blasting on Coal River Mountain Enters Eighth Day
Submitted on July 28, 2011Sitters Call for End of Strip Mining in Coal River Watershed
Marfork, W.Va. – Catherine-Ann MacDougal and Becks Kolins, two protesters associated with the RAMPS Campaign, continue to occupy trees on the Bee Tree surface mine, where they have been stopping work on the mine site since last Wednesday.
Challenge the “No Demonstration” Condition
Submitted on July 28, 2011Public statement signed by PSAC, PEN Canada, OCUFA, CAUT, CUPW, CUPE Ontario, CPT, Council of Canadians, CSN, OCAP, No One Is Illegal, Greenpeace Canada, WPIRG, OPIRG Toronto and others.
Public statement signed by PSAC, PEN Canada, OCUFA, CAUT, CUPW, CUPE Ontario, CPT, Council of Canadians, CSN, OCAP, No One Is Illegal, Greenpeace Canada, WPIRG, OPIRG Toronto and others.
Challenge the “No Demonstration” Condition
July 28, 2011
Files attached to this post:
Public statement: Challenge the 'No Demonstration' condtions
Membership organization must run Caribana
Submitted on July 27, 2011U.S.-Style Free Trade's Dark Side
Submitted on July 27, 2011Corporate predators seek cheap labor worldwide in countries like China, India, Bangladesh, Vietnam, Haiti, Jordan, and many others.
U.S. Eco-Activist Jailed for Two Years
Submitted on July 27, 2011By Suzanne Goldenberg - The Guardian
An activist who became a hero to campaigners for disrupting a Bush administration auction for the oil and gas industry with $1.8m in bogus bids was sentenced to two years in prison on Tuesday...Tim DeChristopher was immediately ordered into custody, and fined $10,000. He had been facing a potential sentence of up to 10 years and a $750,000 fine.
U.S. Air Force Cites Bible and Ex-Nazi to Train Officers on Ethics of Launching Nuclear Weapons
Submitted on July 27, 2011By Jason Leopold - Wednesday 27 July 2011
The United States Air Force has been training young missile officers about the morals and ethics of launching nuclear weapons by citing passages from the New Testament and commentary from a former member of the Nazi Party...The mandatory Nuclear Ethics and Nuclear Warfare session, which includes a discussion on..."Christian Just War Theory," is led by Air Force chaplains and takes place during a missile officer's first week in training at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.
New Winnipeg Jets Logo Sacrifices Nostalgia for Militarism
Submitted on July 27, 2011By Tyler Shipley - July 26, 2011
...[T]he new Winnipeg Jets logo foolishly discards a popular classic and chooses instead something that looks like it belongs on an Air Canada safety brochure...While hockey teams in Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, Toronto and Montreal labour to give everything a retro, classic feel...the old/new Winnipeg franchise has elected to abandon a look that maintained its popularity throughout the club's 15-year absence...[M]y beloved Winnipeg Jets are being twisted into another cheap marketing ploy for the new Canadian militarism.
America: Heading for Tyranny and Impoverishment
Submitted on July 27, 2011On America's bipartisan scoundrel government.
Canada’s Values?
Submitted on July 27, 2011By Kim Petersen - Dissident Voice
[Canadian Prime Minister Stephen] Harper stated, “Those who threaten Israel also threaten Canada”...Harper is trying to go one better than...[former Liberal Prime Minister] Paul Martin [who said]: “Israel’s values are Canada’s values — shared values — democracy, the rule of law, and the protection of human rights”...So what are these identical values that Canada will always stand for?
The Political Establishment and the Oslo Massacre
Submitted on July 27, 2011By Peter Schwarz - WSWS
...[T]here is a definite link between the campaign of incitement against Muslims, which has been supported by all of the parties of the US and European bourgeois establishment and by the media, and the political motives of the fascist who murdered 76 people...It was only a matter of time before the incessant promotion of racial hatred, national and anti-immigrant chauvinism and militarism engendered an act like that which occurred in Oslo.
Who Will Protect Us From the Police?
Submitted on July 27, 2011By MICHAEL CALDERÓN-ZAKS - Counterpunch
...[W]hat happened to [Kenneth] Harding happens in colonized spaces to colonized subjects, from Hunter's Point to Baghdad. The victims are people of color. Five centuries of colonially-constructed rationales have served the purpose of minimizing the value of racialized subjects...The white supremacist authority...only needs to make a haphazard justification for its shoot-first and ask-questions-later approach. Being shot in the back for being black or brown will be justified by a complicit corporate press...
Norway: The Enemy Within
Submitted on July 27, 2011By John Feffer - Znet
“Multiculturalism...is an anti-European hate ideology designed to deconstruct European cultures and traditions, European identities, European Christendom and even European nation-states. And, as such, it is an evil genocidal ideology created for the sole purpose of annihilating everything European.”
- Accused Norwegian terrorist Anders Behring Breivik, writing in his diary
Eighth MMC Radio Segment/Huitième segment radiophonique de la CMM
Submitted on July 27, 2011The Oslo Attacks: More False Flag Evidence
Submitted on July 26, 2011With considerable mass media help, misinformation diverts public attention from vital truths, playing their usual gatekeeper role, providing fiction and irrelevancies, not fact.
Guatemala Civil War Massacre Trial Begins
Submitted on July 26, 201125 July 2011 - BBC News
A unit of Kaibiles entered the village of Las Dos Erres in the northern department of Peten in December 1982...The military suspected the villagers of supporting or harbouring left-wing guerrillas...Over a period of three days, the Kaibiles interrogated and then killed the inhabitants, including children, women and the elderly.
Why not write for The Dominion this month?
Submitted on July 26, 2011Hello to all our members,
As we do every month, in August we will pay two contributors for news features
to be published in *The Dominion*. We prioritize solutions-oriented news
pieces with a Canadian angle, including photo essays and video pitches.
Off the Hour: California Hunger Strike Solidarity
Submitted on July 26, 2011UN Commission Flotilla Massacre Report
Submitted on July 26, 2011Despite irrefutable evidence, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon appeased Israel by appointing his own commission.
Torontonians Smash Ford's Anti-Tax Agenda
Submitted on July 26, 2011By Enid Godtree - July 25, 2011
The results of a public consultation with Torontonians released in mid-July has dealt a blow to Mayor Rob Ford's agenda...The Core Service Review - Public Consultation released by the City shows that public opinion of the City's budget deficit is in direct opposition to the Mayor's agenda. Over 13,000 Torontonians completed the consultation.
Failure to Rehabilitate: The Death of Amy Winehouse
Submitted on July 26, 2011By BINOY KAMPMARK - Counterpunch
Winehouse was always going to be the music industry’s soft spot, an easy target for the press vultures keen to find copy and fill columns. Vulnerable, mad, and plunging into drug and alcohol filled depths with seemingly no visible bottom, she was always going to be easy game...[A]s she is laid to rest, one can only wonder whether it would have been better had she remained a brilliant singer rather than a deeply troubled star.
Fundamentalism Kills
Submitted on July 26, 2011By Chris Hedges - July 26, 2011
Fundamentalists have no interest in history, culture or social or linguistic differences. They are a remarkably uncurious, self-satisfied group. Anything outside their own narrow bourgeois life, petty concerns and physical comforts bores them...The only thing that matters is the coming salvation of humanity, or at least that segment of humanity they deem worthy of salvation. They peddle a route to assured collective deliverance. And they sanction violence and the physical extermination of other human beings to get there.
Toronto Pig Save releases graphic footage of "kill floor" at Quality Meat Packers and of pigs transported in extreme heat
Submitted on July 26, 2011Toronto Pig Save is releasing footage of activists taking temperatures with a digital thermometer inside pig transport trucks stopping at the long lights at Lakeshore and Strachan (near the Exhibition's Prince's Gates) during Thursday’s heat wave.
The Slaughter in Oslo
Submitted on July 25, 2011By Peter Schwarz - 25 July 2011
...[T]he murders in Oslo have a new quality. Far-right extremist violence is now aimed at a political party because the perpetrator sees it...as embodying “cultural Marxism,” internationalism and generally left-wing views...Anders Behring Breivik...sought out the offices of Social Democratic Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg as the target for his bomb attack. Then, on Utoya island...he carried out a cold-blooded massacre of the camp’s participants. It was a politically motivated terrorist attack by a fascist against a social democratic party.
Brutally Isolating Detainees in Israeli Prisons
Submitted on July 25, 2011Conditions for isolated Palestinians are far more severe than for Israelis. All are classified as "security prisoners" subject to cruel and unusual treatment. Many get no family visits for extended periods, even years, nor have telephone privileges.
Dene First Nation Throws Support Behind Stopping Enbridge Pipeline
Submitted on July 25, 2011By Krystalline Kraus - July 25, 2011
The Dene First Nation...passed a resolution supporting British Columbia's Yinka Deneerent in their opposition to Enbridge's proposed Northern Gateway Pipeline and supporting the right for Indigenous decision making power over their territory..."More than 50 per cent of the proposed Enbridge pipeline and tanker route passes through the territories of First Nations that have banned this development according to their traditional laws. These Nations now have the support of Dene from northern Alberta to the Arctic coast."
Trial of Khmer Rouge Leaders Underway in Cambodia
Submitted on July 25, 2011By John Roberts - WSWS
The trial is expected to last months or even years. It is already clear from the investigative phase of the cases which began in 2007 that the main aim of the process is not to bring justice for the survivors. Rather it is a show trial designed to close the book on the Khmer Rouge genocide while covering up the responsibility of others, inside Cambodia and internationally.
RCMP Spied on Canadian Academic Northrop Frye
Submitted on July 25, 2011July 24, 2011 - CBC News
Canada's intelligence service spied on renowned literary scholar Northrop Frye, closely eying his involvement in the anti-Vietnam War movement, an academic forum on China and efforts to end apartheid in South Africa...Newly released archival records show the RCMP Security Service relied on a secret informant to help compile a 142-page file on the esteemed University of Toronto professor, who died in 1991 at age 78.
Possible Israeli Connection to Oslo Attacks
Submitted on July 25, 2011On July 24, investigative journalist Wayne Madsen suggested a Mossad link, saying "ample evidence" of its involvement exists. Anders Breivik, the alleged bomber/gunman, calls himself a Christian conservative and has expressed strong pro-Israeli views, hostile to Palestinians and Muslims.
Ontario patient advocate body under threat
Submitted on July 25, 2011Ontario Government to have CMHA to assume oversight of PPAO
A coalition of concerned, consumer/survivors.
Updated: Save SFPIRG's Space!
Submitted on July 24, 2011Upcoming Events on the SFPIRG Lease
*Updated July 26, 2011*
Update on SFPIRG Lease Issues & Upcoming Events!
"Echelon" Global Eavesdropping Scheme Dwarfs Murdoch's News of the World
Submitted on July 24, 2011By Sherwood Ross - July 20, 2011
...[A] global eavesdropping scheme being run today by the United States and Great Britain dwarfs anything that Rupert Murdoch's editors at The News of The World (TNTW) ever dared attempt...Launched in the 1970s to spy on Soviet satellite communications, the [National Security Agency] and its junior partners in Canada, Britain, Australia, and New Zealand operate ECHELON, which is a network of massive, highly automated interception stations covering the globe...
Canada Clamps Down on Criticism of Israel
Submitted on July 24, 2011By Jillian Kestler-D'Amours - Al Jazeera
...[T]he real purpose of the [Canadian Parliamentary Coalition to Combat Anti-Semitism] coalition seems to be to stifle critiques of Israeli policy and disrupt pro-Palestinian solidarity organizing in Canada...Many of the CPCCA's findings, therefore, must be rejected as both an attack on freedom of speech and freedom of protest, and as recklessly undermining the fight against real instances of anti-Semitism.
Canada Prepared for 'Lethal Force' Against Natives: Indigenous Leader
Submitted on July 24, 2011By David P Ball - Media Co-op
...Winnipeg Indigenous leader Leslie Spillett pointed to an inherent "culture of oppression" in Canada's police forces at an international conference on policing..."There is abundant evidence the Canadian state is still prepared to use lethal force against Indigenous people..."
Afghan Judges Accuse U.S. of War Crimes
Submitted on July 24, 2011By David Swanson - July 24, 2011
"Your Constitution speaks of freedom and a people's government...but the United States is running secret prisons, torturing, disappearing people, and locking people up for years with no due process...It may seem trivial...but it affects our daily lives"...[T]he perception Afghans have of the U.S. forces...[is] of a group of arrogant occupiers who kick in doors.
The Oslo Attacks: Comment and Analysis
Submitted on July 24, 2011Many questions are unanswered. Are they similar to previous European and US post-9/11 attacks? Was a single individual responsible or were others unnamed or not known involved? Was it homegrown and/or outside inspired, despite what's been reported?
A Parade - Halifax Pride Parade Pageantry
Submitted on July 23, 2011Halifax - "There's always people who speak against it. But there seems to be so much love for Pride here in Halifax," says Paul Forrest, Pride Parade Coordinator. "It's amazing to see how colourful and excited people get because they're coming to the Pride parade. They know they have expectations, that it can't be boring. It has to be creative.
A March, Not A Parade - Halifax Dyke and Trans March
Submitted on July 23, 2011HALIFAX - On July 22nd, queer women, trans people, and their allies, gathered for the first annual Halifax Dyke and Trans March. In light of the fact that the pomp and pageantry of the Pride Parade was scheduled for the very next day, I found myself wondering; Why two parades?
Canada prepared for 'lethal force' against Natives, says Indigenous leader
Submitted on July 23, 2011Biting a chunk out of the common adage that a few "bad apples" in the police are responsible for misconduct, Winnipeg Indigenous leader Leslie Spillett pointed to an inherent "culture of oppression" in Canada's police forces at an international conference on policing.
The Fix Is In: Washington's Planned Social Contract Destruction
Submitted on July 23, 2011The planned destruction of America's social contract safety net protections.
Pulled Off a Plane Above the U.S.
Submitted on July 23, 2011By Raquel Gutierrez - July 23, 2011
Last night I took an airplane to go to Italy. I had to arrive in Tuscany to meet with friends and compañeros to share experiences in Latin American struggles with them. I wasn’t able to make it to my destination because it occurred to the gringo government that not only did I have no right to pass through its territory, but through its “air space” as well...It didn’t matter that the closest I would get to “its territory” was 30,000 feet above the ground.
Terrorist Attacks Kill Minimum 87 in Norway
Submitted on July 23, 2011By Mike Head - WSWS
A bombing and mass shooting in Norway on Friday have left at least 87 people dead. Following a large explosion directed against government buildings in the capital, Oslo, a right-wing anti-Islamic extremist opened fire with automatic weapons on youth at a camp run by the ruling Labour Party on nearby Utoya Island.
Bahrain Unrest Stirs Unease in Washington
Submitted on July 22, 2011After months of ruling Al Khalifa family crackdowns against nonviolent protesters, political opponents, human rights activists, medical professionals, independent journalists, and others wanting democratic change, reports suggest the U.S. may move its Fifth Fleet elsewhere.
Israel's Growing Crackdown
Submitted on July 22, 2011By Neve Gordon - July 22, 2011
Political change is slow. One doesn't go to sleep in a democracy and wake up in a fascist regime...Any political change of such magnitude is the result of a lot of hard work and is always incremental...There are, however, significant events that serve as historical milestones...In Israel, it might very well be that the Boycott Bill...will also be remembered as a historic landmark.
CPCCA, Campuses and Criminalizing Criticism of Israel
Submitted on July 22, 2011By Sue Ferguson, Mary-Jo Nadeau, Gary Kinsman, Reuben Roth, Eric Shragge and Abby Lippman - July 22, 2011
The authors are members of Faculty for Palestine.
This month, a serious attack was made against free speech in Canada. A pseudo-parliamentary committee calling itself the Canadian Parliamentary Coalition to Combat Anti-Semitism (CPCCA) issued a report calling on the federal government to adopt a definition of anti-Semitism that would criminalize criticism of the state of Israel...[I]ts recommendations aim to silence pro-Palestinian voices, especially on campuses. The CPCCA's biased processes and dubious conclusions...make a mockery of the notion of disinterested parliamentary inquiry.
Readings from The Revolution Starts at Home
Submitted on July 22, 2011Ching-In Chen and Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha launch their new book in Vancouver
Ching-In Chen and Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha made a quick stop in Vancouver yesterday as part of their tour promoting their inspiring new book The Revolution Starts at Home.
U.S. Military to Monitor 'New Battleground' of Social Media
Submitted on July 22, 2011Friday, July 22, 2011 - Common Dreams
The Pentagon is asking experts to help figure out how to detect and counter propaganda on social media networks in the aftermath of the Arab uprising..."Events of strategic as well as tactical importance to our Armed Forces are increasingly taking place in social media space. We must, therefore, be aware of these events as they are happening and be in a position to defend ourselves within that space against adverse outcomes..."
Michele Bachmann: Way Out There in the Blue
Submitted on July 22, 2011At age 24 in 1980, Bachmann voted for Reagan and worked for his campaign. In Congress and as a Tea Party presidential candidate, her extremism may be unrivaled.
Lessons From Genova, 10 Years On: Remembering Carlo Giuliani
Submitted on July 22, 2011By MICHAEL LEONARDI - Counterpunch Weekend Edition
The reality of Genova is that the global economic powers decided to draw their line and strike back forcefully against the rapidly expanding movement for economic, social and environmental justice. Our cockiness in thinking that the world's leaders would only be able to meet in very remote locations or on the international space station were quickly and violently squashed...Ten years later the disaster of the global economy is more evident than any of us could have imagined and the truths of the resistance movement ring truer than ever...
U.S. Steps Up Confrontation with China in the South China Sea
Submitted on July 22, 2011By Joseph Santolan - WSWS
On July 14, US Senators John McCain and John Kerry wrote a letter to Chinese State Councilor Dai Bingguo...[stating] that the "assertive measures taken by China against foreign vessels in the South China Sea["]...could result in an escalation of future incidents. They added that this would “jeopardize the vital national interests of the United States”...This terminology is quite ominous, as “vital national security” interests are those that a country will go to war to defend. The threat of US armed intervention lurks not far behind such words.
North Fraser Perimeter Road even deader today
Submitted on July 21, 2011It is hard to say when a freeway or road building project is dead. They have a bad habit of emerging from the grave, smelling worse than ever.
Social and Economic Inequality in Israel
Submitted on July 21, 2011Like America, Israel prioritizes military and business spending. As a result, wealth and power interests are served at the expense of vital social services eroded or denied.
Australian Government "Intervention" Deepens in Aborignal Communities
Submitted on July 21, 2011By Susan Allan - 21 July 2011
Launched in 2007 by the [right-wing] Howard government, fully backed by the Labor Party, the [Northern Territory Emergency Response Intervention] has become a testing ground for a continuous assault on welfare recipients, indigenous and non-indigenous alike. Labor’s next phase seeks to go further in closing “unviable” remote communities, opening up Aboriginal land for exploitation and creating a “work-ready” cheap labour force.
Why Palestine is Important
Submitted on July 21, 2011By ISRAEL SHAMIR - July 20, 2011
Palestine is important because it is believed to be the linchpin of Empire, one of the key points necessary to control the world. Such was the conviction of the 19th century British Empire-builders...and this conviction has been recently and continuously reformulated into the terms of modern geopolitics. Once an arcane theory...it has grown up to become a driving force behind globalism...[T]his is the way the world’s powerful elite think.
Caution: Wisconsin Ahead
Submitted on July 21, 2011By Ish Theilheimer - Monday, July 11, 2011
...[T]he anti-unionism disease is a global plague. The Greeks are the latest...of nations to be dosed with privatizing shock treatment. Little keeps many other European countries from the same fate...Canadians have no cause to be smug or complacent...The Right's strategies are clear, coherent and long-term. The Left's, by contrast, are often confused.
African Nova Scotians May Become First in Canada to Join the African Union
Submitted on July 21, 2011Round Table Discussion with Rocky Jones, Denise Allen
CKDU Community Radio in Halifax hosted a round table discussion on July 19th to mark 2011 as the International Year for People of African Descent, and to alert Nova Scotians to a series of upcoming town halls. The discussion featured guest panelists Dr. Rocky Jones and Denise Allen.
Khaira Tree Planters: One Year Later, Wages and EI Remain Unpaid
Submitted on July 21, 2011Despite legal victories workers still struggling for rights
VANCOUVER-- July 20, 2011. Tomorrow marks the one-year anniversary of the closure of the Khaira camp in Golden, B.C. where tree planters, primarily of African origin, were effectively enslaved, trapped in the woods living and working under deplorable conditions, and not paid. The conditions the workers endured were uncovered following an investigation by the B.C.
Leonard Peltier: Victimized by Criminal Injustice
Submitted on July 21, 2011Peltier was framed, convicted and imprisoned for the deaths of two FBI agents, killed during a 1975 Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, South Dakota shoot-out. Though innocent, he's currently serving two consecutive life terms - not for murder, for activism.
Montreal Police Squad Accused of Pursuing People for Political Beliefs
Submitted on July 21, 2011Thursday, 21 July 2011 - Ainfos
...[A] woman who answered the phone Wednesday at a Montreal bookshop popular with anarchists took a swipe at the city’s police, calling them deceitful, full of plots and violent...“I think it’s surprising...They’re not hiding what they want to do. They’ve given it this Orwellian title. It’s a reflection of how much power they have.”
Canada Blocks UN from Declaring Asbestos a "Hazardous" Substance
Submitted on July 21, 2011By Jake Silver - WSWS
Canada’s Conservative government has prevented asbestos — a notorious carcinogen responsible for tens of thousands of deaths each year — from being listed as a hazardous substance under the United Nations’ Rotterdam Convention on the Prior Informed Consent Procedure for Certain Hazardous Chemicals and Pesticides in International Trade.
Amusement Park Tells Lesbian To Remove Gay Marriage Shirt
Submitted on July 21, 2011By Kristen Gwynne - AlterNet
“This is a family park,” said a Dollywood amusement park employee to Olivier Odom after he asked her to remove her sarcastic “Marriage is so Gay” t-shirt...Odom, at Dollywood with her...was married last year. Dollywood asserts it is their policy for gatekeepers to make decisions and enforce the dress code for patrons, but Odom and Tiptin say they were singled-out.
'Strap Em On Strap Em Down': Partying For A Cause
Submitted on July 21, 2011Tonight from 9pm until we all turn back into pumpkins at midnight, the TransAction Society of Nova Scotia will be holding its 3rd annual 'Strap Em On Strap Em Down' age 19+ fundraiser at the Company House.
The Sinixt Nation: "We are still here"
Submitted on July 21, 2011Indigenous struggles and solidarity
The Sinixt peoples: We are still here, and we are strong!
~Unceded Sinixt territory~
Upon arriving in the Slocan Valley (as it is now called by “the settler” population), I felt a sense of awe, regarding how diverse and beautiful the region is.
How Greece Abandoned Palestine
Submitted on July 20, 2011By David Cronin - 13 July 2011
When Andreas Papandreou died in 1996, The New York Times noted that he often left Western governments “befuddled or exasperated”...Citing examples of his “maverick” behavior, the paper’s obituary referred to how the Greek prime minister granted diplomatic status to the Palestine Liberation Organization in 1981...In recent times, the current Greek premier George Papandreou has acted as if he wishes to totally negate his father’s legacy.
The Threat Assessments of the V2010ISU
Submitted on July 20, 2011One of the first requests that I did was for all documents relating to the Olympic Resistance Network, No2010.com and the Anti-Poverty Committee. I finally received that today and the first thing that I'm doing after writing this article is filing a complaint with the Information Commissioner because there are no documents pertaining to no2010.com.
Denying Palestinian Children Education
Submitted on July 20, 2011Basic rights for all besieged Gazans are denied or severely restricted, including for school children to be properly educated. Earlier from 2000 - 2004, Israeli attacks destroyed 73 educational institutions. During Cast Lead, public and private schools were deliberately targeted, damaged or destroyed.
Off the Hour: Artung Art Project & Ad Takeover
Submitted on July 20, 2011Interview with a Artung spokesperson, Pascale Brunet
Interview with Pascale Brunet, a spokesperson for Artung Ad Takeover.
Ceci n’est pas une pub is a collective platform that identifies artistic interventions in our public space. By sharing imaginative creations through an interactive map, we hope to encourage our streets to become as participatory, stimulating and human as our communities are.
Off the Hour: Status of Canada's Economy and Expectations for the Future
Submitted on July 20, 2011Interview with economist and writer, Jim Stanford
Jim Stanford is a writer and Economist in the Research Department of the Canadian Auto Workers. In a June 30th column on Rabble.ca, he sparked attention with his July 1st Portrait of Corporate Canada. Here he speaks about the the Canada's corporations and the economic future of the country.
Toronto In Review
Submitted on July 20, 2011Ontario Psych Survivors Fight for Independent Patient Advocacy
Submitted on July 20, 2011By John Bonnar - July 19, 2011
Shortly after the Ontario legislature adjourned for the summer and without public consultation, the Liberals decided to integrate the Psychiatric Patient Advocate Office's rights advice and advocacy services with the Canadian Mental Health Association's community-based mental health services..."The Psychiatric Patient Advocate Office was their watchdog, their voice, their first line of defence against being involuntarily drugged, restrained and subjected to excessive force by the police..."
Israeli/Washington Peace Process Rejectionism
Submitted on July 20, 2011Pretending to restart Israeli/Palestinian peace talks, Quartet representatives met in Washington on July 11.
Reporter Ejected from Jason Kenney Speech
Submitted on July 20, 2011July 20, 2011 - rabble.ca
"I don't care what other journalists have or don't have, or how unfair you think it is, you are not wanted here and that's final..."
- Cop escorting independent journalist David Ball out of "public consultation" with Citizenship and Immigration Minister Jason Kenney in Vancouver
Israel Lawlessly Terrorizing Palestinians
Submitted on July 19, 2011Palestinians bear witness daily to Israeli state terror.
Obama Administration Operates Illegal Torture Compound in Somalia
Submitted on July 19, 2011By Tom Carter - WSWS
The Obama administration is operating an illegal secret CIA prison compound in Somalia into which targeted individuals are “rendered” without trial to be tortured...“Set on the coast of the Indian Ocean, the facility looks like a small gated community, with more than a dozen buildings behind large protective walls and secured by guard towers at each of its four corners. Adjacent to the compound are eight large metal hangers, and the CIA has its own aircraft at the airport.”
Israel Rejects Non-Violence: The Method in Netanyahu's Madness
Submitted on July 19, 2011By Jonathan Cook - July 19, 2011
...[T]here may be a method to the madness of measures like the boycott law...These initiatives...leave no room for non-violent opposition to the occupation...Netanyahu and the Israeli right understand this point. They are carefully dismantling every platform on which dissident Israelis, Palestinians and international activists hope to stage their protests. They are making it impossible to organise joint peaceful and non-violent resistance...The only way being left open is violence.
Deltaport protest against Israeli Shipping
Submitted on July 19, 2011Rahm Emanuel: Chicago's War Criminal/Anti-Labor Mayor
Submitted on July 19, 2011After two months in office, Rahm Emanuel looks likely to be Chicago's worst Mayor, based on policy initiatives he supports. As White House chief of staff, he was criminally part of Obama's war cabinet. As Chicago's mayor, he's waging war against labor.
In Pakistan 'U.S. Military Aid Came With Spies Attached'
Submitted on July 19, 2011By Zofeen Ebrahim - Tuesday, July 19, 2011
Defense analysts in Pakistan believe that foregoing 800 million US dollars worth of aid may be a fair bargain for ridding this country of over a hundred ‘military trainers’ who were suspected of being spies..."They were not all trainers...Of every three or four trainers, one would be an undercover intelligence person trying to subvert the loyalties of our soldiers."
Prisoners Strike Against Torture in California Prisons
Submitted on July 19, 2011By Marjorie Cohn - Znet Commentary
The torture of prisoners in U.S. custody isn’t confined to foreign countries. For more than two weeks, inmates at California’s Pelican Bay State Prison have been on a hunger strike to protest torturous conditions in the Security Housing Unit (SHU) there. Prisoners have been held for years in solitary confinement, which can amount to torture...Solitary confinement can lead to hallucinations, catatonia and even suicide, particularly in mentally ill prisoners.
Why Indigenous and Racialized Struggles Will Always be Appendixed by the Left
Submitted on July 19, 2011By Zainab Amadahy - rabble.ca
While I can't generalize about what Indigenous or other racialized peoples mean by the words "decolonization", anti-racist or "anti-colonial", I can certainly observe how SOME philosophies and action strategies employed in leftist movements relegate anti-colonial and anti-racist struggles to the periphery...[L]eftist philosophies are like a one-size-fits-all dress that only a very small minority feel comfortable wearing.
Protestors Bring Taste of Senegal's People-Power to Ottawa
Submitted on July 19, 2011Senegalese-Canadians rally at embassy to denounce President Wade and demand fair elections
OTTAWA--“Nadem, nadem, nadem!”
Chants of “He must go!” in Wolof – the indigenous Senegalese language – resounded through the usually quiet residential neighbourhood of Ottawa’s Sandy Hill, the home of the Senegalese embassy.
Why Kai Nagata Quit his Job and Why I Don't Care
Submitted on July 19, 2011July 18, 2011 - Media Co-op
About a week ago, one headline proclaimed that the Canadian media was shaking in its boots...The 24 year old former journalist based out of Quebec City for CTV was laying siege to the Canadian media. Executives ran for cover as he blasted through the corporate offices, breathing fire and so on...But, forgive me, I’m not impressed.
Washington's Ongoing Libya Terror Bombing
Submitted on July 18, 2011Washington-led naked aggression against Libya as America's terror bombing continues unabated.
Britain’s Top Cop Resigns Over Relations with News International
Submitted on July 18, 2011By Chris Marsden - WSWS
Britain’s senior police officer, Sir Paul Stephenson, has been forced to resign in the latest turn in the expanding scandal over phone hacking and other illegal acts by British media outlets owned by Rupert Murdoch. Stephenson stepped down after the arrest of Neil Wallis further exposed the corrupt relations between Murdoch’s media empire and the London Metropolitan Police.
GroundWire July 17th Edition
Submitted on July 18, 2011Missing and Murdered Women, Assisted Suicide, Young Muslim Women and Trans People, and the Freedom Flotilla
Headlines:
The Rocky Affair Between the U.S. and Pakistan
Submitted on July 18, 2011By Tariq Ali - Znet
As long as the Pentagon bankrolls the Pakistan army to fight its wars and NATO troops remain in Afghanistan there will be quarrels, charges of infidelity, a reduction in the household allowance, perhaps a separation – but a divorce? Never.
America’s Disappeared
Submitted on July 18, 2011By Chris Hedges - July 18, 2011
Torture, prolonged detention without trial, sexual humiliation, rape, disappearance, extortion, looting, random murder and abuse have become...part of our own subterranean world of detention sites and torture centers...“We tortured people unmercifully...We probably murdered dozens of them … both the armed forces and the C.I.A.”
Athletic Excellence Competes With Raunch Culture at Women's World Cup
Submitted on July 18, 2011By Dave Zirin - July 17, 2011
...“[R]aunch culture” is when women athletes buy into the idea that it’s somehow empowering to display their naked bodies for men’s magazines...They claim that they are not only promoting their sport but also proving to the world that their attractiveness and (straight) sexuality is not to be questioned...“[W]e want to disprove the cliché that all female footballers are butch.”
The Voice of the Ruling Class: New York Times on "Death and Budgets"
Submitted on July 18, 2011By Kate Randall - WSWS
In an op-ed piece published Friday, New York Times columnist David Brooks reveals the real thinking of America’s financial aristocrats in relation to health care spending...In order to resolve the budget deficit...people will have to die sooner...“This fiscal crisis is about many things...but one of them is our inability to face death — our willingness to spend our nation into bankruptcy to extend life for a few more sickly months.”
Prisoners Have Nothing to Gain By Eating
Submitted on July 18, 2011By David Swanson - July 18th, 2011
The United States locks up more people and a greater percentage of its people than anyone else. We lock them in training centers for anger and violence. We subject them to rape, assault, humiliation, and isolation. We throw the innocent in with the guilty, the young with the old, the nonviolent with the violent, the hopeful with those who’ve lost all interest in life.
Why Kai Nagata quit his job, and why I don't care.
Submitted on July 18, 2011I usually complain about things over at http://demarchy.tumblr.com
---
About a week ago, one headline proclaimed that the Canadian media was shaking in its boots.
Why?
Because Kai Nagata was on the job. Or, rather, he wasn’t.
Glenrose Cannery After 1 Week of Vandalism by Government
Submitted on July 18, 2011These photos taken on Sunday July 17 show the historic Glenrose Cannery, on the Fraser River in North Delta, after one week of demolishion by the Provincial Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure. This vandalism is part of preparations for building the controversial South Fraser Perimeter Road (SFPR) freeway, part of the Gateway freeway expansion program.
Play Ball! Dykes Beat Divas, 13-10, In Halifax Pride Classic.
Submitted on July 17, 2011In a hard-fought battle under cloudless skies, the no-nonsense Dykes were too much for the flashy Divas, and defeated them 13-10 in Halifax's Pride Classic. The game took place in front of an over-capacity crowd, which spilled joyously into the outfield.
Torontonians Smash Ford's Anti-Tax Agenda
Submitted on July 17, 2011Consultation Shows Public Wants Services Before Tax Cuts
The results of a public consultation with Torontonians released last week has dealt a blow to Mayor Rob Ford's agenda.
The Core Service Review - Public Consultation released by the City shows that public opinion towards the City's budget deficit is in direct opposition to the Mayor's agenda. Over 13,000 Torontonians completed the consultation.
Files attached to this post:
NATO's Debacle in Libya
Submitted on July 17, 2011By ALEXANDER COCKBURN - July 15-17, 2011
The reports...of the deliberations of NATO’s Contact Group have a surreal quality, as [the U.S.] Secretary of State...and British Foreign Minister...gravely re-emphasize their commitment to regime change and the strengthening of ties to the Transitional Council in Benghazi, while the humiliation of the entire NATO expedition is entering the history books as an advertisement of the dangers of political fantasy in the service of “humanitarian interventionism”, appalling intelligence work, illusions about bombing and air power, and some of the worst press coverage in living memory.
What is the 'Right' Type of Resistance?
Submitted on July 17, 2011By Ibrahim Shikaki - 06 July 2011
...[T]he danger of using the term "nonviolent resistance" insinuates that any other form of resistance is violent, hence giving it a negative undertone...In Arabic, Palestinians do not distinguish between violent and non-violent resistance, but rather between armed resistance and popular resistance. The Palestinian people and political factions have relied on both forms...throughout the past century.
Neocons Fume Over U.S. Boat to Gaza
Submitted on July 17, 2011By Ray McGovern - Truthout
Arguing that some people in the Middle East might be worse off than the Gazans is reminiscent of the claims by white South Africans that “their” blacks were better off than some blacks living in poorer parts of Africa, thus justifying apartheid...To tout a couple of “luxury hotels” being built in Gaza...and the possibility that some other Arabs might be more miserable than the Gazans – as an excuse for the entrapment and collective punishment of 1.6 million people – is the same kind of rationalizing on behalf of injustice.
Why I Hate Texas
Submitted on July 17, 2011By JACK RANDOM - Counterpunch Weekend Edition
The crux of the current argument is that in these difficult times Texas is the national leader in job creation. The argument is as flawed as a high school engineering project...The reasons jobs are migrating to Texas, Mississippi and North Dakota are the same reasons American jobs are moving to India: Low wages, minimal health and retirement benefits, an unregulated working environment and a virtual prohibition of unions.
Defending Killer Cops in New Orleans
Submitted on July 17, 2011By JORDAN FLAHERTY - July 15-17, 2011
Whatever the verdict at the end of the Danziger Trial, lawyers for the accused have offered a passionate defense of their clients...Defense attorneys have been aggressive in their questioning of prosecution witnesses, especially the former officers who have pleaded guilty and agreed to testify in exchange for lighter sentences. They have occasionally displayed hostility towards attorneys for the government, who are prosecuting the case.
Israel to Attack Iran This Fall, Says CIA Veteran
Submitted on July 17, 201117 July 2011 - Al Jazeera
A longtime CIA officer who spent 21 years in the Middle East is predicting that Israel will bomb Iran in the fall, dragging the United States into another major war and endangering US military and civilian personnel...throughout the Middle East and beyond...There is almost "near certainty" that Netanyahu is "planning an attack [on Iran] ... and it will probably be in September before the vote on a Palestinian state. And he's also hoping to draw the United States into the conflict..."
G20 Documents explore surveillance and undercover operations
Submitted on July 17, 2011Intelligence Gathering for the G8 and G20 Summits included Event Monitors who infiltrated crowds, Surveillance teams who followed buses or other vehicles travelling to Toronto for protests and a Covert Operations Team, that conducted undercover operations, according to a document released by the RCMP under Access to Information legislation.
Letter from the People of Gaza to the Greek Government: We Want Solidarity, Not Charity
Submitted on July 17, 2011By Canadian Boat to Gaza - July 17, 2011
We, members of Palestinian civil society in Gaza, have been watching the actions your government has taken to block Freedom Flotilla 2 from setting sail towards the biggest open air prison – the Gaza Strip – to challenge Israel’s criminal blockade. Israel’s closure of Gaza has deprived us of things that most people take for granted, first and foremost, our freedom of movement...Now, you have imported this restriction on the people whose main mission is to stand in solidarity with us.
Aftermath of Israeli Anti-Free Speech Law Passage
Submitted on July 16, 2011Buoyed by passage of their anti-boycott bill, Knesset Yisrael Beitenu and Likud party extremists taste blood and want more. Most worrisome is a proposed measure to investigate leftist group activities.
Israel and the Flotillas
Submitted on July 16, 2011By Eric Walberg - July 15th, 2011
...Israel achieves its narrow, tactical victories at the expense of its long term strategy of achieving respect as a legitimate nation; instead, isolating itself further as a rogue nation with no concern for human rights or the welfare of others, despised by most of the world. In a 2010 European opinion poll 60 per cent saw Israel as the greatest threat to world peace...It extends its criminal siege of Gaza and occupation of the West Bank to Greek ports and European airports.
Rolling Out the Unwelcome Mat As Britain Cuts Migrant Legal Aid
Submitted on July 16, 2011SchNEWS - Friday 15th July 2011 | Issue 779
The closure of the Immigration Advisory Service...following new legislation denying legal aid for all immigration cases, has left hundreds of migrants and asylum seekers without legal support...The service had been running for 35 years from London and regional offices, with 300 employees. At the time of the shock closure...there were 650 active cases. Claimants are now being told to ask courts for their hearings to be delayed and to find themselves alternative legal representation.
Montreal: Police Unit Will Monitor Anarchists
Submitted on July 16, 2011By MAX HARROLD - July 15, 2011
The creation of a Montreal police unit targeting anarchist vandals is "a declaration of war" and further proof that cops discriminate against people because of their political beliefs and lifestyles, an anarchist sympathizer says...[A] spokesperson for the Coalition against repression and police brutality, said [the] Montreal police unit...highlights police use of social stereotyping to hinder the legal expression of opposition to social and legal policies.
Crackdowns, Torture and Intimidation in Bahrain
Submitted on July 16, 2011Largely ignored by Washington, Western governments, and America's media, the ruling Al Khalifa monarchy continues cracking down brutally against nonviolent protesters since civil resistance began last February.
Rupert Murdoch Has Blood on His Hands
Submitted on July 16, 2011By David Swanson - Dissident Voice
Bribery is dirty stuff. So is sneaking a peak at the private messages of murder victims. But there’s something even dirtier: murder, murder on the largest scale, murder coldly calculated and played out from behind a desk, in other words: war...Murdoch is a major crime boss being threatened with parking tickets.
The European Debt Crisis and the Threat of Dictatorship
Submitted on July 16, 2011By Stefan Steinberg - 16 July 2011
The representatives of finance capital are well aware that their counter-revolutionary policy will provoke social upheavals. Their answer is the preparation of new and more repressive forms of rule.
Israel's Boycott Law: The Quiet Sound of Going Fascist
Submitted on July 16, 2011By Bradley Burston - July 12, 2011
The Boycott Law is the litmus test for Israeli democracy, the threshold test for Israeli fascism. It's a test of moderates everywhere who care about the future of this place...This is the one. This is where the slope turns nowhere but down...At first, it doesn't feel like fascism. That's why it works.
Sectarian Violence Drives Out Immigrant Families in Northern Ireland
Submitted on July 16, 2011Saturday 16 July 2011 - The Guardian
Immigrant families from East Timor fled a Catholic area of Northern Ireland on Friday night when loyalist rioters tried to attack nationalist homes...The families from East Timor packed their bags and ran from their homes in Portadown, County Armagh on Friday night, when the area was engulfed in violence..."They packed their bags, so distressed were they at the violence. Their neighbours tried to reassure them that they would be safe in their homes but they left..."
Debt Ceiling Debate Charade Masks Planned Entitlement Cuts
Submitted on July 15, 2011Obama and Congress now plan completing their financial coup d'etat, ending America's social contract, leaving retirees, working households, and impoverished millions on their own sink or swim.
Second "Knowing the Land is Resistance" Zine Released
Submitted on July 15, 2011Although it’s been hard to stay inside gluing and scanning during the summer time, the second Knowing the Land is Resistance zine is now released! This second collection contains the nine most recent articles from the KLR collective, including the map of the Spencer Creek Watershed and lots of handy tips for ID’ing plants and animals in the Carolinan zone. The zine is 16 sheets, double-sided, black and white, and you can download it over at indybay.org in either printable or electronically readable version.
"Oranges and Sunshine": The Story of Britain’s "Child Migrants"
Submitted on July 15, 2011By Laura Tiernan - WSWS
Watching Oranges and Sunshine is a harrowing experience. The scale of the injustice and cruelty is overwhelming. Children and their parents in Britain were systematically lied to and stripped of their most fundamental legal and social rights. Charities...told thousands of children their parents were dead. They were deported against their will and without their parents’ knowledge or consent. Mothers who searched for sons and daughters were led to believe they had found new homes with loving foster-parents and were “better off without them”. Some were told their children were deceased.
Denunciation of Israel's Anti-Boycott Law
Submitted on July 15, 2011The Global BDS Movement and Coalition for Women for Peace called Israeli Anti-Boycott law "One of the most dangerous anti-democratic laws promoted in this current Knesset. Boycott is a non-violent, legal and legitimate means to promote social and political aims that is protected in civil rights of freedom of expression, opinion and assembly. The bill constitutes a fatal blow to all these civil rights."
30 Years in Prison For Saying the Wrong Thing? How the FBI Entraps U.S. Citizens To Feign Success Against Terror
Submitted on July 15, 2011By Rehanna Jones-Boutaleb - AlterNet
On August 28, 2008, two childhood friends from Midland, Texas, Bradley Crowder and David McKay, traveled north to join thousands of protesters at the 2008 Republican National Convention...What began as a journey of hope, however, ended in sudden catastrophe. Crowder and McKay's efforts to mark their opposition to the Republican administration and the U.S. involvement in Iraq resulted in multiple charges of domestic terrorism...What the "Texas Two" hadn't realized in Minnesota was that their trusted comrade, Brandon Michael Darby...was in fact an FBI informant.
Italy: Barbarians at the Gates...in Suits
Submitted on July 15, 2011By Conn Hallinan - Znet
...[T]he barbarians are back, only this time they are not tribes with scary names like Goths, Huns and Lombards. Today the brutes have bland sounding labels like the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the European Union (EU) and Moody’s. And some of the worst are homegrown: Silvio Berlusconi...
Once More to Tahrir
Submitted on July 15, 2011Once more I return to Tahrir Square to further my education in peaceful revolution. If there is one lesson to take home from this night, it is in the making of space for different expressions of the same over-arching goal.
SFU Student Government Moves to Displace Progressive Groups
Submitted on July 15, 2011By Dawn Paley - July 14, 2011
BURNABY - Over the past week, life has been turned upside down for campus and community groups on SFU's Burnaby Campus. Last Thursday, CUPE Local 3338 members were given notice that after two years of contract negotiations they would be locked out of their offices. The move by the Simon Fraser Student Society (SFSS) impacts 15 permanent staff and five student employees who work for the Society. The lockout took effect Sunday and picket lines went up in front of the SFU Women's Centre and Out on Campus (OoC) spaces Monday morning.
CKUT radio: 'The Good Cause' a critical exhibition on 'peace keeping'
Submitted on July 15, 2011interview with Fabrizio Gallanti of the Canadian Centre for Architecture (CCA)
Listen to an interview with Fabrizio Gallanti of the Canadian Centre for Architecture (CCA) speaking on 'The Good Cause' an exhibition currently taking place in Montreal.
SFU students rally against Board moves
Submitted on July 15, 2011BURNABY - Simon Fraser University students marched through campus yesterday afternoon. At issue are moves by the SFU Student Society to lockout union staff and threaten campus services like SFPIRG, the Women's Cenrte and Out on Campus.
See earlier story for details.
SFU Student Government Moves to Displace Progressive Groups
Submitted on July 14, 2011PIRG faces eviction, lockout targets campus orgs, union workers
BURNABY - Over the past week, life has been turned upside down for campus and community groups on SFU's Burnaby Campus.
Canada's Income Gap Widens: Report
Submitted on July 14, 2011July 13, 2011 - CBC News
The richest Canadians increased their share of total national income while the poor and those with middle incomes saw their portions shrink, according to the [Conference Board of Canada's] analysis, entitled "How Canada Performs"...Incomes of the poor increased marginally in the period, it said, but the gap between rich and poor widened..."While the poor are minimally better off in an absolute sense, they are significantly worse off in a relative sense..."
Why U.S. Unions Should Reconsider Support for Tar Sands Oil Pipeline
Submitted on July 14, 2011By Jeremy Brecher and Brendan Smith - June 30, 2011
The Keystone XL pipeline is a key link in an energy path that will lead to devastation for American working families...We've all heard about global warming caused by the emission of carbon and other "greenhouse gases" into the atmosphere...[T]here is a near-total consensus among climate scientists that it is real and that it will cause devastating climate change. That means rising sea levels, an ever-increasing number of extreme weather events like droughts, floods, and heat waves, and consequences like forest fires and species extinction.
NATO and Rebel Atrocities in Libya
Submitted on July 14, 2011Paramilitary insurgent cut-throats and NATO terrorism.
Financial Crisis As a Way of Life
Submitted on July 14, 2011Neo-liberalism's genius is its ability to blame the victim. Thus the sub prime crisis was the result of irresponsible home buyers, and the Greek crisis is the result of greedy Greeks living beyond their means. Once the victim is blamed, it justifies imposing a world of pain on those who are already suffering.
An AWKward Relationship: The U.S. and Its Ties to Hamid Karzai's Half-Brother
Submitted on July 14, 2011By Kim Barker - Thursday, July 14, 2011
Until his brother's rise to power, Ahmed Wali Karzai was best known for the leek dumplings at his Chicago restaurant. Since then, although his official position was simply the head of the Kandahar provincial council, he was much more than that. He was the de facto leader in four of the country's southern provinces. He was accused of dealing drugs, of taking kickbacks in land deals, of interfering in political assignments...Many credited him with securing his brother's re-election in the south in 2009.
Off the Hour's Prison Radio: Prison Abolition and the Prison Archipelago
Submitted on July 14, 2011Interview with Assistant Professor of Philosophy Brady Heiner
An in-depth interview produced by Lili Eskinazi with Assistant Professor of Philosophy of Concordia University, Brady Heiner. Heiner uses tools from philosophy to understand the historical roots and modern day functioning of the Prison Industrial Complex.
Lines in the Sand
Submitted on July 14, 2011One Tile Makes it from Nova Scotia to Gaza.
The most straightforward road route to the border town of Rafah, from Cairo, heads almost due east. You will pass through the inhospitable expanse of the Sinai desert before arriving at the Mediterranean coastal town of El-Arish. From El-Arish, you will have to find a taxi or a small bus to Rafah.
Nuggets from a Nut House: From Netanyahu to Mladic
Submitted on July 14, 2011By Edward S. Herman - Dissident Voice
The nuggets keep piling up as the United States continues its course toward the abyss, pulling the rest of the world with it. Imagine, 29 standing ovations for Benjamin Netanyahu’s May 24th speech by the members of the U.S. congress, who once again displayed their loyalty to a foreign state, their contempt for international law, their racism, and their support of Israeli apartheid and serious ethnic cleansing.
Lockout at SFU: Women's Centre, Out on Campus targeted
Submitted on July 14, 2011Student Society pushes CUPE 3338 out of their workplaces, picket lines formed
The SFU Women's Centre, Out on Campus, Coffee Centre, the student General Office, Finance Office, Organizing Office, and the Surrey Office are among a host of groups who have recently been locked out by the Simon Fraser Student Society.
Canada’s Military to Establish Base in Kuwait in Push for Global Presence
Submitted on July 14, 2011By Graham Beverley - 14 July 2011
Canada’s Conservative government announced Monday that it has entered into an agreement with Kuwait to establish a new staging base for Canadian military operations in the Middle East and Central Asia. The military base in Kuwait is part of a larger Canadian Armed Forces’ endeavor to establish forward bases in East Asia, the Middle East, Africa, Europe, and the Caribbean, to allow for the rapid deployment of military force in pursuit of Canada’s imperialist interests around the world.
SFPIRG Under Threat
Submitted on July 14, 2011SFU's Public Interest Research Group faces potential surprise eviction
In a recent meeting, the Simon Fraser Student Society's Spacing Committee passed a motion to recommend the termination of SFPIRG's lease, a move that amounts to a surprise eviction notice.
Seventh MMC Radio Segment/Septième segment radiophonique de la CMM
Submitted on July 13, 2011Freedom Flotilla II: Final Thoughts
Submitted on July 13, 2011Flotillas and other humanitarian efforts aren't about delivering "goods." They're about freedom, self-determination, and ending Israel's lawless choke-hold, violating international laws, norms and principles grievously for decades, complicit with rogue partners against justice, shamelessly supporting crimes of war and against humanity.
Celebrate Mad Pride
Submitted on July 13, 2011By Jesse McLaren - July 13, 2011
With the rise of capitalism, people who could not fit into narrowly-defined norms of labour productivity, either because of physical or psychiatric differences, became pathologized. Since then mad people have been subjected to diverse methods of "restoring sanity," such as institutionalization, electroshock and "the chemical prison industry" of Big Pharma.
Indigenous Resistance is the New 'Terrorism'
Submitted on July 13, 2011By Manuela Picq - 10 July 2011
In Ecuador, "terrorists" are indigenous peoples from the Amazon and the Andean highlands fighting to preserve access to water in their communities. Old penal codes written in times of dictatorship are being revived by leftist presidents to repress indigenous activists. As "terrorists", they are labeled as enemies of the state, and arrested - by the very president that claimed leftist credentials and staged his inauguration in overtly ethnic style.
Documents Prove Australian Complicity in Iraq War Crimes
Submitted on July 13, 2011By James Cogan - WSWS
Documents obtained last week by the Public Interest Advocacy Centre...confirm what was already clear in 2004: that the Australian military was complicit in the torture committed by American forces at Iraq’s Abu Ghraib prison in late 2003. The documents...also demonstrate that the [previous] Australian government of Prime Minister John Howard concealed information...into whether Australian personnel were aware that war crimes were being committed.
From Dishwasher to Drug Kingpin: The Killing of Ahmad Wali Karzai
Submitted on July 13, 2011By ERIC WALBERG - Counterpunch
Aghan President Hamid Karzai's younger half-brother, Ahmad Wali Karzai, was killed in Kandahar on 12 July during a gathering in his house...A ruthless autocrat, he was widely despised, and escaped multiple assassination attempts in the past, but his death nonetheless comes as a major blow to President Karzai in the homeland of the Taliban, and will set off a vicious power struggle to fill Ahmad's shoes.
Off the Hour: California Hunger Strike Solidarity
Submitted on July 13, 2011Interview with Carl Small of Montreal Hunger Strike Support Committee
An interview with Carl Small of the Montreal Hunger Strike Support Committee. He speaks about the thousands of prisoners in long term isolation units in California prisons that began a hunger strike on July 1st, 2011. For many, this hunger strike is an indefinite one.
For more information visit contrelesprisons.blogspot.com or email montrealcontreprisons@gmail.com
Off the Hour: Inflitrating Canadian Activists
Submitted on July 13, 2011Interview with Tim Groves
This originally aired on Montreal’s CKUT 90.3 fm on the Off the Hour program on June 23rd. Tune in 17h-18h for Off the Hour, Monday thru Friday.
Canada: The Gift That Keeps on Giving to Israel
Submitted on July 13, 2011By Harsha Walia - July 13, 2011
"We recognize that the people of Palestine have been subjected to colonization in the same way that Indigenous people [in Canada] have lost their relationship with the land. Gaza has become an open-air prison for 1.4 million people. It is the largest 'Reserve' in the world."
- Ardoch Algonquin Robert Lovelace, speaking aboard the Tahrir
Simon Fraser University: A No Longer Radical, Now Reactionary Campus
Submitted on July 13, 2011By Kevin Harding - Vancouver Media Co-op
...[T]oday the [Simon Fraser Student Society] seems to have shoved off the more than 40-year history it could have once proudly claimed as student activists: the Board of Directors of the SFSS, led in “what can only be interpreted as an ideological move”...issued a lock-out notice to its unionised staff members...Late today, a committee of the same board voted to begin the process of terminating the lease of the Simon Fraser Public Interest Research Group (SFPIRG), a student-driven and student-funded group that conducts research and organizing on student selected issues.
By Torpedoing the Gaza Flotilla, Israel Sank Its Own Ship
Submitted on July 12, 2011By Medea Benjamin - July 12th, 2011
...[T]he Israelis helped us turn a potential non-story into a media blitz that has not ended. The passengers are now returning home to the local public spotlight. Rather than being depressed by Israeli maneuvers to prevent the flotilla from reaching its destination, they are more motivated to speak out about the siege of Gaza and bullying tactics of the Israelis.
Deficit Reduction vs. Democracy
Submitted on July 12, 2011By Shamus Cooke - July 12, 2011
Instead of fixing the national deficit in the way that the vast majority of Americans would like, only the opinions of a tiny minority of very rich people are being considered. Both political parties are uniting to reduce the deficits on the backs of working people...[T]he U.S. government could easily access trillions of dollars in revenue; it simply chooses not to. Both political parties refuse to discuss how raising taxes on the wealthy and corporations could easily fix the current deficit issue...
We Need U.S. Troops to Stay in Iraq to Fight Iran: New U.S. 'Defense' Secretary
Submitted on July 12, 2011By PATRICK COCKBURN - July 12, 2011
The United States could take unilateral military action against Shia militias armed by Iran if they continued to attack US troops, Leon Panetta, the new US Defense Secretary, said on a visit to Iraq yesterday. The threat marks an escalation in the long-running battle for influence in Iraq between Washington and Tehran that has gone on since the fall of Saddam Hussein in 2003.
SFU: A no longer radical, now reactionary campus
Submitted on July 12, 2011The SFSS CUPE Lockout and SFPIRG eviction
This article was posted on Politics Respun on July 8, and is republished here with permission from the author.
Israel's Knesset Passes Boycott Prohibition Bill
Submitted on July 12, 2011Israel increasingly resembles a fascist police state, endangering anyone challenging state policies.
The Key to a Happy Death: Rébel Against the Human Condition and Empire
Submitted on July 12, 2011By THOMAS NAYLOR - Counterpunch
Rebél is a philosophy of rebellion. It provides us with the faith to claw meaning out of meaninglessness, the energy to connect with those from whom we are separate, the power to surmount powerlessness, and the strength to face death rather than deny it. Since the word rebel has more than one meaning, we use Rebél to connote resistance to authority and control.
Montréal: Court Appearance of Four Anti-Capitalist Activists
Submitted on July 12, 2011Tuesday, July 12, 2011 - CMAQ
Governments everywhere are consenting to subsidies to large multinationals and banks to boost the economy, while imposing austerity measures against their populations...The message is simple and has been repeated over and over again by the bourgeoisie in concrete and recent examples, such as the G20: impunity for police when it defends the interests of capital, and harassment and prosecution for anti-capitalist activists.
Mass Psychosis in the U.S.
Submitted on July 12, 2011By James Ridgeway - 12 July 2011
Has America become a nation of psychotics? You would certainly think so, based on the explosion in the use of anti-psychotic medications. In 2008, with over $14 billion in sales, anti-psychotics became the single top-selling therapeutic class of prescription drugs in the United States, surpassing drugs used to treat high cholesterol and acid reflux.
Baltimore Workplace Democracy Diary
Submitted on July 12, 2011Last weekend, I attended the Eastern Conference on Workplace Democracy in Baltimore, Maryland. Over 200 people (a record turnout for this conference) gathered to discuss and learn under the theme "Connecting Our Workplaces: Building Cooperative Economies".
The 2018 Winter Olympics: Money and Power
Submitted on July 12, 2011By Werner Albrecht - WSWS
Going back further into the history of the Olympics, one must conclude they have diverged far from the intent of their modern father, Pierre de Coubertin. There is not much left of his initial vision of fair play and uniting the world’s peoples. Today, it is all about national prestige and big business, with corruption, bribery and doping playing ever-increasing roles.
HRM's Next Big Bad Idea
Submitted on July 12, 2011Widening Bayers Road
Bedford’s gain will be Bayers Road’s (and the taxpayer’s) pain. And the pain will be considerable.
This was the warning that the HRM Peninsula Community Council provided at a public meeting at City Hall on Monday night.
Homes, Not Psycho-Prisons
Submitted on July 12, 2011By Don Weitz - July 12, 2011
Since the 1960s, more and more psycho-prisons have been shut down; yet there was, and still is, virtually no affordable and accessible housing built for the many thousands of people who have ended up on city streets as a result. As inner-city refugees, homeless psychiatric survivors, forcibly drugged, traumatized and discriminated against, frequently have no safe place to go. For all too many, the street, a shelter or an emergency ward are the only alternatives.
Des Organisations à Montréal Envoient une Lettre de soutien pour les grévistes de la faim de la SHU à la Prison d’État de Pelican Bay et dans d’autres prisons en Californie
Submitted on July 11, 2011Montreal Groups Issue Letter of Support for the Hunger Strikers in the SHU at Pelican Bay State Prison and other California Prisons
Au Directeur de prison Lewis, au Secrétaire Cate et au Gouverneur Brown:
Caribana, exploitation and disrespect of a cultural resource
Submitted on July 11, 2011This commentary appeared in the August 4, 2010 issue of the Share Newspaper (http://www.sharenews.com/opinion/2010/08/04/caribana-exploitation-and-di...)
By AJAMU NANGWAYA
Israel's Siege Strangles Gaza
Submitted on July 11, 2011By Ash Pemberton - Green Left Weekly
The campaign of repression, slander and sabotage against the Freedom Flotilla II in its efforts to break the blockade of Gaza shows how desperately Israel and its supporters wish to keep the conditions in the besieged Palestinian enclave out of the world's view...The illegal Israeli blockade, in place since 2007, has crippled the Gazan economy and brought widespread misery to Gaza's 1.5 million people.
Thousands of California Inmates Show Solidarity With Prison Hunger Strike [Video]
Submitted on July 11, 2011By Bryan Gerhart - Monday, July 11, 2011
What began as a hunger strike among inmates of the isolation wing of California’s Pelican Bay prison has turned into a statewide display of solidarity. A number of prisoners in Pelican Bay’s Security Housing Unit, California’s highest-security complex, refused their state-provided morning meal on Friday to protest the inhumane conditions of their confinement.
Time for a Revolution in Sports?
Submitted on July 11, 2011By Kim Petersen - Dissident Voice
Lockouts loom in the NBA and NFL; it is owners pitted against players. One fact stands out starkly: there is no sport without the players; the same cannot be said about the owners.
Ripoff Rezoning in East Vancouver's Norquay
Submitted on July 11, 2011Tomorrow is the day. The day I hand a two-page list of questions to Vancouver City Councillors about the literally shady proposal to rezone 2699 Kingsway, the famous old location of Wally's Burgers, that icon of the fifties Vancouver.
Global Day for Syria
Submitted on July 11, 2011Audio from June 11 Montreal demonstration
This segment features interviews and sound recorded the day of the demonstration that took place in downtown Montreal on the Global Day for Syria. The demonstration began at Norman Bethune Square and, after marching along Saint Catherines, concluded outside Place Canada.
Fighting terrorism in Canada with immigration laws
Submitted on July 11, 2011Interview with Adil Charkaoui about life after being issued a security certificate
Passing The Post
Submitted on July 11, 2011Class War Without Mercy
Submitted on July 11, 2011By GREGORY ELICH - July 11, 2011
For ordinary workers, the recession brought only economic hardship. But for corporate America, it meant one thing: opportunity. This is the chance to permanently mold the economy into something approximating the Third World model: vast wealth and privilege for those at the top, and unemployment, falling wages, and inadequate or nonexistent social services for the rest of society.
Carlos Montes and the U.S. Security State: A Cautionary Tale
Submitted on July 11, 2011By Chris Hedges - Truthdig
On May 17 at 5:00 in the morning the Chicano activist Carlos Montes got a wake-up call at his home in California from Barack Obama’s security state. The Los Angeles County sheriff’s SWAT team...kicked down his door, burst into his house with their weapons drawn, handcuffed him in his pajamas and hauled him off to jail. Montes...was one of the organizers of the demonstrations outside the 2008 Republican National Convention...and he faces trial along with 23 other anti-war activists...as well as possible charges by a federal grand jury.
Rupert Murdoch and the Rule of the Oligarchy
Submitted on July 11, 2011By Chris Marsden - 11 July 2011
The ongoing exposure of systematic hacking of thousands of phones and computers by employees of Rupert Murdoch’s News of the World lifts the lid on the rampant criminality of the corporate and political elite...At least 7,000 people have had their phones hacked and their privacy invaded. The trawl for personal information has targeted a wide range of victims, from politicians and members of the royal family to the families of murder victims and soldiers killed in Afghanistan.
America's Dirty War on Islam
Submitted on July 11, 2011America's dirty war, in fact, targets Blacks, Latinos, Native Americans, political activists, and Muslims for their faith, ethnicity, and at times prominence and charity, exploiting them as "war on terror" scapegoats.
From Tahrir to Tahrir
Submitted on July 11, 2011The Tahrir, the ship, is for the moment buried under a mountain of Greek paperwork. A last gasp effort on July 9th to have her 'independently' reviewed by the INSB (International Naval Security Board) only led to another series of newly-required documents.
The Illegal State Murder of Humberto Leal Garcia
Submitted on July 10, 2011By Bill Van Auken - WSWS
Over the past decade, Washington’s contempt for international law and democratic rights has further escalated, with the waging of multiple illegal wars of aggression and the use of criminal methods such as “extraordinary rendition,” detention without trial and torture. This has been mirrored at home with a relentless assault on basic democratic rights.
5 Outrageous Examples of FBI Intimidation and Entrapment
Submitted on July 10, 2011By Kevin Gosztola - June 30, 2011
Here are five cases of FBI abuse that show the FBI deserves more scrutiny, not a free pass to continue fighting the so-called “war on terror.”
Media Co-op seeks Directors!
Submitted on July 10, 2011Now taking nominations for new reader, contributor and editor reps for the Board
The Media Co-op is planning our 2011 AGM for August 3, 2011 in Toronto, with meet-ups across the country. Members can also participate via phone and online. Visit this page for details and updates.
"If We Have Rice, We Can Have Everything": A Critique of Khmer Rouge Ideology and Practice
Submitted on July 10, 2011By Junge Linke - Libcom
...Pol Pot and his alleged ‘stone-age communism’ is always invoked as a counter-‘argument’...[to] show what happens if people attempt to change society radically. [The Khmer Rouge] seems to be made for this purpose: a group of left-wing students in Paris encounter what passes at the time for Marxism; they later join the Communist Party, return to their home country, go underground...come to power through a guerrilla army, and then set up a regime of terror...Bourgeois common sense has always pictured communism like this, hence the outrage is great and there is little interest in finding out why the Khmer Rouge did what they did.
Dueling UN Flotilla I Commissions
Submitted on July 10, 2011Last September, the UN Human Rights Council issued its damning findings on Israel's Flotilla I massacre, killing nine and wounding dozens of peaceful humanitarian activists heading for Gaza with aid.
Smoking Out Tourists in Holland
Submitted on July 10, 2011By JOHN SINCLAIR - July 8-10, 2011
The Dutch government's current attempt to restructure Holland's permissive cannabis culture and cripple the thriving cannabis industry continues to baffle local and international observers. The idea...is to limit licit marijuana smoking to Dutch citizens and official residents of the Netherlands.
Facebook Helps Israel Blacklist Air Travellers
Submitted on July 10, 2011Sunday, July 10, 2011 - Slashdot
According to a report by the Associated Press, protesters have been stopped in their tracks after Facebook aided Israel in cracking down on the group of activists from the UK, France, and Belgium who planned their event using the popular social networking site.
Obama Administration: Pot has No Accepted Medical Use
Submitted on July 10, 2011By John Hoeffel - Common Dreams
Marijuana has been approved by many states and the nation's capital to treat a range of illnesses, but the federal government has ruled that it has no accepted medical use and should remain classified as a dangerous drug like heroin...The decision to deny the request was made by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and comes less than two months after advocates asked the U.S. Court of Appeals to force the administration to respond to their petition.
The Great Unravelling
Submitted on July 10, 2011Conditions have worsened, not improved, because of force-fed austerity, not badly needed stimulus to create jobs, reemploy people, and revive real economic growth.
In Defence of a Muslim Takeover (Or Why We Should Welcome the Extinction of the West)
Submitted on July 10, 2011By Sumayya Kassamali - July 5, 2011
While we suffer no illusions about the power of the state over those who reside within its borders, what if a nation diffused into difference offers us an opportunity to forge new affiliative ties; political solidarities that begin precisely as “we who have no nation”? Might this afford us the possibility of a left not wrapped up in the logic of liberal democracy and free-market capitalism?...So open the borders, let the Muslims have babies, and let us see where a radical future lies.
Instilled Memory
Submitted on July 10, 2011By Uri Avnery - Friday, July 8, 2011
THERE IS a mental disorder called “paranoia vera”. Patients adopt a crazy assumption – e.g. “everybody hates me” – and then build an elaborate structure around it. Every bit of information which seems to support it is eagerly absorbed, every item that contradicts it is suppressed...Among the accompanying symptoms are belligerent behavior, recurrent suspicions, disconnection from the real world, conspiracy theories and narcissism.
Update on Status of the Gaza Flotilla Ships
Submitted on July 10, 2011July 10, 2011 - rabble.ca
Ann Wright, of the US Boat to Gaza, compiled this list of the status of flotilla boats, accurate as of this week-end.
Activists Conducting 'Fly-In' to Israel
Submitted on July 9, 2011By Dahr Jamail - Al Jazeera
...Friday, July 8, hundreds of pro-Palestinian activists are planning to fly to Tel Aviv's Ben Gurion Airport in a display of solidarity with Palestinians living in the occupied territories..."We are fed up with lying about being tourists...Now, they are all going to say: 'we are coming to visit our Palestinian friends that have invited us.' If they get through, there are events planned for Palestinian groups for us to take part in, as we were invited by them six months ago, and we are answering their call."
Flotilla Passengers Are Today's Freedom Riders
Submitted on July 9, 2011Wednesday 6 July 2011 - Truthout
[The Gaza Flotilla] action is provocative, just as were those of the freedom riders in the 1960's, designed to show the world that the law is not being enforced - in the present case, international law, which gives Israel neither the right to police Gazan waters nor to prevent that territory - at present arguably the world's largest prison - from exporting its produce and importing essential supplies.
The Tahrir Will Sail Again
Submitted on July 9, 2011By Canadian Boat to Gaza - July 9, 2011
Two Freedom Flotilla boats, the Juliano (Greece/Sweden/Norway) and the Dignité-Karama (France) are still aiming to break the blockade of Gaza in Greece at this very moment and they have our full solidarity. Other boats, including the Tahrir, will regroup and start planning for the next phase of the Freedom Flotilla.
Greece: Struggle Grows Amid Police Violence, Government Panic
Submitted on July 9, 2011By Afrodity Giannakis - Thursday, July 7, 2011
The extreme police violence during the protests was just an expression of the government’s insecurity...In Athens, the police used large quantities of tear gas in the adjoining streets in an effort to stop people going to the rally. Later, they used tear gas directly on the demonstrators in Syntagma Square.
Jewish Group Gives Pseudo-Parliamentary Report a Failing Grade
Submitted on July 9, 2011July 8, 2011 - Independent Jewish Voices (Canada)
Ottawa -- Independent Jewish Voices (IJV) has given the Canadian Parliamentary Coalition to Combat Anti-Semitism (CPCCA) a failing grade on its long-overdue report...“If the CPCCA were re-named the 'Canadian Parliamentary Coalition to Protect Israel', this would be honest and credible. But contrary to its name, the coalition has virtually nothing to do with real anti-Semitism. The CPCCA is suggesting dangerous legislative changes based on fantasies and its upside-down definitions...[T]he coalition and its report must be repudiated...”
Michigan Woman Faces 93 Days in Jail for Planting a Vegetable Garden
Submitted on July 9, 2011By Colleen Vanderlinden - July 8, 2011
Julie Bass of Oak Park, Michigan...is facing 93 days in jail after being charged with a misdemeanor...Her crime? Planting a vegetable garden in the front yard...This is not some gated community...This is an ordinary, working class neighborhood...Oak Park is facing financial issues. Here at home, people are amazed that a cash-strapped city has the resources to investigate, charge, and prosecute a resident for something as innocuous as planting a vegetable garden.
Witnessing the Tar Sands Dead Zone
Submitted on July 9, 2011This walk was started by people heartbroken by what has happened to their traditional homelands. One of the organizers...helped to start the Memorial March for the Murdered and Missing Women when she lived in Vancouver years ago. She spoke of the murdered and missing waters in northern Alberta: an eerie, disturbing connection between the violence against Indigenous women and against Indigenous land. Colonization is not a thing of the past; it continues today in virulent, violent forms and materializes in the increased rates of cancer found in communities downstream from the tar sands.
The New Hawks of the Western World
Submitted on July 9, 2011By Lawrence Martin - Friday, July 8, 2011
The military is for the first time starting to take part in our citizenship ceremonies. Our foreign policy is now...to the right of the United States...Hawks of the western world? Who would have thunk it?...It’s a play to our baser instincts, instincts that are more primitive than progressive. The Conservatives’s lock-‘em-up law-and-order policy is one example of this. The glorification of the military is another.
NATO's War Against Libya's Civilians
Submitted on July 9, 2011By FRANKLIN LAMB - July 8-10, 2011
Briefly noted below are five recent instances of undisputed NATO bombings on Libyan civilians selected because they still [are] among the most discussed by residents of Tripoli...History will judge NATO harshly for its crimes. Hopefully the citizens of every NATO member state will work to end its mission so as to protect the civilian population of Libya.
Appeals Court Rejects More Media Consolidation
Submitted on July 9, 2011Since 1983, the number of corporations owning most newspapers, magazines, book publishers, recorded music, movie studios, television and radio stations shrunk from 50 to a handful, including Time-Warner, Disney, News Corp., Viacom, Comcast, and Bertelsmann AG.
A Comment on Peter Falk’s Finest Moments: 'Husbands' and 'A Woman Under the Influence'
Submitted on July 8, 2011By Robert Fowler - 8 July 2011
American actor Peter Falk died June 23 in Beverly Hills, aged 83, after a period of failing health. Falk was best known to the wider public for his role as the apparently bumbling but wily television detective, Lieutenant Columbo, for which role he received four Emmys...However, when assessing Falk’s most intriguing acting credentials one should look no farther than his collaborations with independent filmmaker John Cassavetes. Specifically...Husbands (1970) and A Woman Under the Influence (1974).
Killing Old People Is Fiscally Responsible
Submitted on July 8, 2011By David Swanson - Znet
Not to put too fine a point on it, Mr. President, but fuck your fiscal good. Whose fiscal good is it? And whose pain?...Let's face it: any bargain seems to look good to you, as long as it kills people...You have a list of Americans to assassinate. You have six wars going...You've made clear that Israel murdering unarmed aid workers trying to reach Gaza would be A-OK with you. And "pain" is just the price that other people will have to pay to do without health-care, food, a roof, a coat, or -- for that matter -- hope. Of all your slogans, we seem to be left with Audacity alone, standing by itself among the ruins.
In Dealing With Flotilla, Israel Is Anything But Smart
Submitted on July 8, 2011By Amira Hass - Haaretz
Outsourcing, aggressive and vocal diplomacy and ridiculous lies thwarted the flotilla, but they have not taken Gaza off the international agenda...Blocking the flotilla did not discourage the organizers, who are graduates of the anti-apartheid and anti-white supremacy struggles...[B]locking the flotilla only increased their motivation to keep placing the Palestinians' demand for freedom at the forefront of the international agenda.
Not Masters and Not Culprits, But Partners Instead
Submitted on July 8, 2011By Ishay Rosen-Zvi
On July 15th, an unprecedented event in the history of Zionism is set to take place in Jerusalem: a Jewish-Palestinian independence march...This time Israelis, Jews and Arabs, will show our support for the unilateral Palestinian declaration of independence expected in September; a free state in the 1967 borders, with its capital in East Jerusalem. No more favors, thank you very much.
Purple Thistle Institute Thrives in East Van
Submitted on July 8, 2011Summer experiment in alternative university off to a strong start
Over the last week, a new experiment in learning has begun in Vancouver, where participants split their waking hours between lectures about the history of capitalism and work placements that have them digging in the dirt. The occasion is the first ever Purple Thistle Institute, a three week long foray into alternative ways of learn
Rally for locked-out Rocky Mountaineers
Submitted on July 8, 2011VANCOUVER - More than 100 supporters joined locked out Rocky Mountaineer onboard attendants yesterday in a show of solidarity. The 108 members of Teamsters Local 31 have been locked out and replaced by scabs since June 22.
Organizers say the company agreed to meet today to discuss a union proposal to settle the dispute.
A Pipeline of Injustice
Submitted on July 8, 2011By Charlotte Kates - July 08, 2011
It has been widely reported and speculated that the reason for Greece's participation in the suppression of Freedom Flotilla Two may be found in its own economic situation - that the [Greek] government...is so desperate for international financial and economic support that it is willing to serve as the enforcement arm for Israel's illegal siege on Gaza...Yesterday, in Vancouver...a Greek consular official...confirmed that this is indeed the case.
From Halifax to Gaza, With Love
Submitted on July 8, 2011July 5, 2011 - Halifax Media Co-op
Dr. Ismail Zayid of the Canada-Palestine Association argued that the silence of Canada and the US on the issue of Israel's blockade of Gaza effectively makes these so-called "free world" countries collaborators in the blockade, which...is a violation of international law and a war crime under the Fourth Geneva Convention...Zayid also stressed that the purpose of the flotilla to Gaza is not simply to bring humanitarian aid to Gaza, but also...to expose the illegality and absurdity of the blockade itself.
NATO Using Nuclear Weapons in Libya
Submitted on July 7, 2011Washington and NATO allies are using illegal "dirty bombs."
Social Democrats in Berlin Appoint Hardliner as Police Chief
Submitted on July 7, 2011By Verena Nees - 7 July 2011
Now, following 10 years of rule by the [Social Democrats] and the Left Party, social conditions in the German capital have worsened to such an extent that social protests could break out at any time. Bitterness over the anti-social policies of the Senate and growing inequality in the city is widespread among broad layers of the population...The appointment of [new Berlin police chief Udo] Hansen indicates that the [Social Democratic] leadership is preparing to respond to intensifying social tensions with increased state force.
Media Co-op Investor: June
Submitted on July 7, 2011Digging Around the Mines of Teck Resources Ltd.
Welcome to Media Co-op Investor!
The Media Co-op Investor Series aims to help the general public understand the stock market, how it works and the major companies which benefit from it.
The Corrupt Corporate Incarceration Complex
Submitted on July 7, 2011By William Fisher - Truthout
"Profits by no means created the machinery of mass incarceration, no more than defense contracts invented war, but the huge profits to be made by incarcerating an ever-growing segment of our population serves the system very well...Profits oil the machinery, keep it humming and speed its growth..."
- Judith Greene, policy analyst with Justice Strategies, a nonprofit sentencing-reform advocacy group in New York
Israel Prepares Brutal Response to Gaza Flotilla Ship
Submitted on July 7, 2011By Robert Stevens - WSWS
Israeli government officials have said plans are in place to prevent by force a French ship carrying humanitarian aid from reaching the Gaza Strip...The vessel Dignity is in international waters, after having left Greece last week. It is part of the planned 10 ships in the Freedom Flotilla II. The flotilla aims to deliver tonnes of humanitarian aid to Gaza, which is subject to an illegal land, air and sea blockade.
The Strange Silencing of Liberal America
Submitted on July 7, 2011By John Pilger - July 07, 2011
My talk on 15 June was to have been about the collusion of American liberalism in a permanent state of war and the demise of cherished freedoms...In the United States...serious dissent - free speech - has been substantially criminalised. Obama...is as much a warmonger as George W. Bush. His score is six wars. Never in US history has a president prosecuted as many whistle-blowers...Obama’s greatest achievement is having seduced, co-opted and silenced much of liberal opinion in the United States, including the anti-war movement.
Afghan Civilians Killed in NATO Strike, Eight Children Among 14 Dead
Submitted on July 7, 201107 Jul 2011 - Al Jazeera
A NATO air strike has killed at least 14 civilians, including eight children, in the eastern Afghan province of Khost, local police say...The deadly air raid came a day after two children were reportedly killed in a separate air strike in southwest Ghazni province.
Libya: Flashpoint for Global Conflict
Submitted on July 6, 2011Given America's out-of-control belligerence, perhaps ad infinitum wars will proliferate until America destroys planet earth to liberate it in a mushroom-shaped cloud.
Why Do Cops Have Tanks? The Dangerous Militarization of U.S. Police Forces
Submitted on July 6, 2011By Rania Khalek - July 5, 2011
...[P]aramilitary raids that mirror the tactics of US soldiers in combat are not uncommon in America...America has seen a disturbing militarization of its civilian law enforcement over the last 30 years, along with a dramatic and unsettling rise in the use of paramilitary police units for routine police work. In fact, the most common use of SWAT teams today is to serve narcotics warrants, usually with forced, unannounced entry into the home.
A Mohawk perspective on the Eska Water boycott
Submitted on July 6, 2011interview with journalist Clifton Nicholas via Kanesatake
Listen to an interview with journalist and social activist Clifton Nicholas, from the Mohawk community of Kanesatake, on the recently launched AD campaign by Eska water corporation across Canada and the corresponding grassroots boycott campaign in response.
Balaclava! VMC Broadsheet Issue 32
Submitted on July 6, 2011Razed for Israeli Vacation Homes: Palestine's Last Village Faces Bulldozers
Submitted on July 6, 2011By JONATHAN COOK - July 5, 2011
...Lifta is the last deserted village from 1948 still standing in modern-day Israel...In January the Israel Lands Authority...announced a plan to build a luxury housing project over the village...The project...would be targeted at wealthy foreign Jews, mainly from the United States and France, looking for summer vacation homes in Israel.
Israel's Mythic History
Submitted on July 6, 2011By George Polley - Palestine Chronicle
Israel’s laws openly discriminate against all non-Jews, in open violation of UN standards. And [regarding] the truth about Israel’s chronic violence and violation of its legal responsibilities, its leaders defend their behavior, increase their attack of anyone they consider “guilty” of “persecuting” them, and seem, at least to me, progressively deranged.
An Open Letter to Toronto City Councilors Regarding Attacks on Pride
Submitted on July 6, 2011By Elle Flanders - July 6, 2011
Elle Flanders is a Canadian filmmaker and a driving force behind Queers Against Israeli Apartheid.
Neither you Councilor Mammoliti, nor you Councilor Ford, nor your brother Rob, the Mayor, have terrific records when it comes to defending [Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgendered] rights in this city, and it is becoming more and more clear to most of us that any problem with Queers Against Israeli Apartheid has become a ruse to defund Pride...Banning/threatening Pride because of a group...that criticizes Israeli state policy, cannot be compared to the real work of ridding a city of discrimination and anti-semitism. These charges are clearly wrongheaded and dangerous thinking.
Let Us Sail to Gaza
Submitted on July 6, 2011Freedom Flotilla II participants demand their lawful right to deliver vital humanitarian aid to Gaza. However, an Israeli/Washington/Greek conspiracy blocks them. Nonetheless, they persist, trying to overcome imperial ruthlessness and succeed.
Canada’s Foreign Affairs Minister Meets with Libyan Rebels, NDP Praises Visit as "Important"
Submitted on July 6, 2011By Graham Beverley - 6 July 2011
Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird secretly flew to Libya last week to meet with leaders of the Transitional National Council (TNC), the imperialist proxy force whose calls for “assistance” have been invoked by the NATO powers, Canada included, to justify waging war on Libya...Baird’s clandestine trip to Libya won the praise of Paul Dewar, foreign affairs critic for the NDP..."This is an opportunity for Canada to get involved in the diplomatic side and humanitarian side..."
Freedom for Tahrir Three
Submitted on July 6, 2011Coleman, Kneen, Ruch, receive 30-day suspended sentence, 80-Euro fine
Napoli, Greece -- Today, in the stifling Mediterranean heat, under a gold-leaf portrait of Jesus Christ, the trial of Michael Coleman, Soha Kneen and Sandra Ruch took place.
Balaclava! VMC Broadsheet, issue 32
Submitted on July 5, 2011News and views from around Vancouver
The July Balaclava features excerpts from the Power of Women’s “In Our Own Voices” from the Downtown East Side as well as a look at the Aftermath of the Canucks Riot.
Click here for a PDF of the 32nd Balaclava!
Files attached to this post:
Chomsky Says UK Guardian Article "Quite Deceptive" About his Chavez Criticism
Submitted on July 5, 2011By Joe Emersberger - July 04, 2011
"The Guardian/Observer version, as I anticipated, is quite deceptive...[It] omit[s] much of relevance that I stressed throughout, including the fact that criticisms from the US government or anyone who supports its actions can hardly be taken seriously, considering Washington’s far worse record without any of the real concerns that Venezuela faces...I should know by now that I should insist on a transcript with the Guardian, unless it’s a writer I know and trust."
- Noam Chomsky
Witnessing the Tar Sands Dead Zone
Submitted on July 5, 2011Asserting the Need to Heal
In the face of the enormous devastation that is destroying forests across northern Alberta, a peaceful group of people are steadfastly asserting the need to heal the land and waters. On June 25, 2011, the second annual Healing Walk for the Tar Sands occurred, bringing together Indigenous people, Keepers of the Athabasca, elders, children, and supporters, who walked 13 km through the heart
Health Care in Cuba and America
Submitted on July 5, 2011On September 13, 2010, Al Jazeera's Juan Jacomino said all Cubans, including private sector ones, will still get state-provided free health-care, education, and other longstanding social services, the constitutionally mandated hallmark of Cuba's revolution.
What Do You Imagine Life in Maximum Security Prison to Be Like?
Submitted on July 5, 2011By Nicole Kish - Toronto Media Co-op
Nicole Kish is currently incarcerated in the maximum security unit at Grand Valley Prison in Kitchener, Ontario.
The final product of all this is a room full of very bored individuals lacking any means to use their time well and without many basic human necessities. The maximum security system is failing at every level...Within these walls much is wrong. I am only beginning to learn how much.
Living in Conservative Times
Submitted on July 5, 2011By Linda McQuaig - July 5, 2011
...[T]he genius of the architects of today's conservative revolution has been to obscure the class war they've been quietly waging, keeping us distracted with foreign military ventures, royals and other celebrity sightings...Behind all these diversions, the class war has been relentlessly proceeding.
Chavez: Alive, Well and Recuperating in Caracas
Submitted on July 5, 2011Recently, major media managed news suggested that Hugo Chavez is seriously ill and close to death. Recuperating from illness, yes. Potentially terminal, absolutely not.
PASOK: Pan Hellenic Socialist Kleptocrats
Submitted on July 5, 2011By James Petras - July 5th, 2011
A self-proclaimed “Socialist” Government in Greece is imposing by ballots and clubs the most far reaching reversals of wages, pensions, jobs, educational, health and tax programs in the history of Western Europe...The Pan Hellenic Socialist Party (PASOK) has totally abdicated any pretense of being a sovereign government...Never has any regime, socialist or not, so blatantly and brutally reverted an independent country to the most unadulterated form of colonial rule.
Life in Prison
Submitted on July 5, 2011
Inside maximum-security prison, life is very unlike what most would believe. The stereotypical image of prison that most media paint, with hundreds of prisoners interacting in large cafeterias, yards, and cellblocks, would in fact be a great improvement to most us here. The jail we know is one of deprivation and isolation.
Why Internet Monitoring is Bad for Canada
Submitted on July 5, 2011By Steve Anderson - July 5, 2011
The government has promised to push through an invasive, anti-Internet set of "Lawful Access" electronic surveillance laws within the first 100 days of Parliament. If passed, these laws will turn Internet service providers...against their own customers by making them collect our personal information without court oversight...These Internet surveillance policies have the potential to fundamentally reshape the Internet in Canada -- from a relatively open medium to a closed and paranoid space.
Tahrir and All Aboard Are Safe After High Seas Seizure by Greek Special Forces
Submitted on July 5, 2011By Miles Howe - July 5, 2011
Yesterday, July 4th, the Tahrir chose to make a break for Gaza...In true Canadian fashion, two kayaks were procured from a local beach-side rental store, paddled across the bay, and stashed silently behind the Tahrir, out of sight of the coast guard and the numerous Greek special forces that now were stationed in the marina...At approximately 6:30pm, the Tahrir revved her engines...[and] at the last moment the two kayaks...blockaded the [coast guard].
How It went Down: On board the Tahrir
Submitted on July 5, 2011Through it all--and by "all" I mean getting boarded by the Greek Special Forces on the high seas as the Tahrir attempted to leave Agios Nikolaos bound for Gaza--I was struck by the humanity of the Greek Special Forces. These were the same men who had been sitting at the marina, under an umbrella, cracking jokes with us for days.
Tahrir and all aboard are safe after high seas seizure by Greek special forces.
Submitted on July 5, 2011Apologetic Greek Special Forces get "kayaked," operate ineffectual water cannon, cause diesel leak on Tahrir after ramming her into port
Yesterday, July 4th, the Tahrir chose to make a break for Gaza. Bogged down by the seemingly endless sea of red tape that appeared simultaneously with Greek Prime Minister George Papandreaou's edict that all boats would not be able to sail to Gaza from Greece, those aboard the boat refused to go down quietly.
Colonizing Libya by Military, Financial, Political and Propaganda Terrorism
Submitted on July 4, 2011After three and a half terror bombing months and counting, destroying Libya for wealth and power continues, each imperial nation playing its part in this sinister dirty game, masquerading as liberation.
Making the World Safe for Hypocrisy
Submitted on July 4, 2011By Michael Parenti - Znet
Why has the United States government supported counter-insurgency in Colombia, Guatemala, El Salvador, and many other places around the world[?]...Why did it invade tiny Grenada and then Panama? Why did it support mercenary wars against progressive governments in Nicaragua, Mozambique, Angola...and elsewhere?...I shall try to show that the arguments given to justify U.S. policies are false ones...But this does not mean the policies themselves are senseless. American intervention may seem "wrongheaded" but, in fact, it is fairly consistent and horribly successful.
Protests Spread Against Syrian Regime
Submitted on July 4, 2011By Jean Shaoul - WSWS
At least 28 protesters were killed Friday, as security forces opened fire on what were the largest demonstrations since political unrest first gripped Syria four months ago. The protest movement has escalated in defiance of the army’s brutal crackdown...Hundreds of thousands reportedly turned out in the central city of Hama, demanding the ouster of the regime of President Bashar al-Assad.
Canadian Gaza Flotilla Ship Intercepted by Greek Coast Guard
Submitted on July 4, 201104 July 2011 - Al Jazeera
A Canadian ship taking part in a planned aid flotilla to Gaza has been forced to return to harbour in Crete after an attempt to reach international waters was thwarted by coast guards, according to on-board activists..."In a matter of minutes, the people on the boat turned on the engines while two of the activists kayaked, trying to block the coast guard in port. At that point, the Tahrir made an open break through the port, shooting for international waters."
3 Harvard Psychiatrists Disciplined Over Drug Company Ties
Submitted on July 4, 2011By Kristina Chew - July 3, 2011
Three Harvard psychiatrists, including a leading proponent in the off-label use of anti-psychotics for bipolar disorder in children, have been disciplined by Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital for not fully disclosing the extent of their ties to drug companies...Drs. Joseph Biederman, Thomas Spencer and Timothy Wilens are said to have accepted more than $4.2 million from drug companies...for psychiatric research and other activities between 2000-2007, and not reporting the income to Harvard, MGH or the federal government.
The Real Preachers of Hate
Submitted on July 4, 2011By JONATHAN COOK - July 4, 2011
The outcry in Britain against Sheikh Salah has shocked Israel's 1.3-million Palestinian citizens. For them, he is a spiritual leader and head of a respected party, the Islamic Movement. He is also admired by the wider Palestinian public. The secular Fatah movement...were among those condemning his arrest...The humiliation of Sheikh Salah at the hands of the British legal system...will serve only to remind Muslims of the hypocrisy so often evident in Western policy.
U.S. Independence Day Hypocrisy
Submitted on July 4, 2011All US federal holidays wreak of hypocrisy, representing notions and events other than what they commemorate.
Canadian Flotilla ship stopped by coast guards
Submitted on July 4, 2011A Canadian ship taking part in a planned aid flotilla to Gaza has been boarded by Greek coast guards after attempting to break out of Crete harbour
This article was originally posted by Al Jazeera English.
A Canadian ship taking part in a planned aid flotilla to Gaza has been boarded by Greek coast guards after attempting to break out of Crete harbour, according to activists aboard the vessel.
One Year After Police Ran Amuck at Toronto’s G20 Summit
Submitted on July 4, 2011By Carl Bronski - WSWS
One year after the mass arrests, illegal detentions and brutal police beatings that took place on the streets of Toronto during last June’s G20 conclave of world leaders, not a single politician or supervisory police official has been held to account. Instead, the entire political establishment has worked might and main to cover-up or ignore what Ontario Ombudsman Andre Marin called one of “the most massive” violations of “civil liberties in Canadian history.”
WikiLeaks' MasterCard Parody [Video]
Submitted on July 4, 2011By rabble TV - July 4, 2011
A spoof of the fact that major credit card and on-line payment companies have withheld over $15 Million in donations to WikiLeaks.
The Battle for Syntagma Square
Submitted on July 3, 2011By Jelle Bruinsma - July 03, 2011
[Neither] the tear gas, nor the other violence, could clear the square. People were determined to stay. These are our times. Some people left, taking a rest, and other people took their place. At one point in the day one could be challenging the authority of the state police, at another point one would be going around with spray cans of “maalox” to help the people that are forced back by the tear gas...[A]t yet another point one would be taking a rest or cleaning the streets. All with the same thing in mind: these streets are ours.
Leftist Greek MPs Accuse Government of Caving to Israeli Pressure to Stop Gaza Flotilla
Submitted on July 3, 2011By Amira Hass - Haaretz
Flotilla participants and members of the leftist opposition in Greece have accused the Socialist government of caving in to Israeli pressure..."The Greek government is obeying the orders of Israel and that is why the ship is anchored here. Were Greece a genuine democracy, the ship would have already set sail..."
Socially Profiling the Homeless in Montréal
Submitted on July 3, 2011July 2, 2011 - Coop Média de Montréal
[Bernard] St-Jacques is [a] community organizer for public space and jurisdiction [in Montréal] and the author of a report on social profiling released last Wednesday...85 per cent of the respondents to [the] questionnaire described the relations between homeless people and police as negative: 56 per cent reported being the victims of physical abuse and 46 per cent reported verbal abuse or discrimination. Sixty-one per cent indicated they still frequently receive fines.
U.S. Captain of Gaza Ship Held in 'Shocking Conditions'
Submitted on July 3, 2011By Agence France-Presse - Sunday, July 3, 2011
The captain of a US vessel intercepted after it tried to defy a ban and sail for Gaza from Greece was being held in "shocking conditions" Sunday and has not received consular assistance...New York lawyer Richard Levy...has visited [Captain John] Klusmer in jail [and]...told enraged US activists that "he had no bed or toilet in his cell, and is receiving no food or water".
Noam Chomsky Denounces Hugo Chávez for "Assault on Democracy"
Submitted on July 3, 2011By Rory Carroll - Sunday 3 July 2011
...Chomsky has accused [Hugo Chávez] of amassing too much power and of making an "assault" on Venezuela's democracy...[Chomsky] spoke on the eve of publishing an open letter...that accuses Venezuela's authorities of "cruelty" in the case of a jailed judge..."Judge Afiuni has suffered enough...She has been subject to acts of violence and humiliations to undermine her human dignity. I am convinced that she must be set free."
Libya: Unending American Hostility
Submitted on July 3, 2011By William Blum - July 02, 2011
If any foreign power fired missiles at the United States would Barack Obama regard that as an act of war? If the US firing hundreds of missiles at Libya is not an act of war, as Obama insists (to avoid having to declare war as required by US law), then the deaths resulting from the missile attacks are murder. That's it. It's either war or murder. To the extent there's a difference between the two.
Netanyahu's Big Fat Greek Wedding
Submitted on July 3, 2011By Barak Ravid - July 1, 2011
[Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu’s personal investment in his relationship over the past year-and-a-half with Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou...seems to have put the final nail in the Gaza flotilla’s coffin...The romance between Netanyahu and Papandreou began in February of 2010, when the two met coincidentally at [a]...restaurant in Moscow. Netanyahu took advantage of their chance encounter to speak with the Greek prime minister about Turkish extremism against Israel and the two quickly became friends.
Tahrir Promises to Sail Tomorrow: Subplots and Intrigue Abound
Submitted on July 3, 2011By Miles Howe - July 3, 2011
When...peace activists have their cover blown, occupy a island-hoping ferry in the marina, and begin marching up and down the boardwalk, screaming "Shame on Papandreaou!" and "Free Gaza!"...there's a problem. A town like Nikolaos, with 8 euro cocktails, lazy Tuesday night karaoke...and not even a nude beach, isn't built for such expressions of solidarity with the people of Gaza. This isn't Athens. This isn't Syntagma Square. There's not even a hint of tear gas in the air.
Boat is Safe, We Will Sail Legal: Local Captain
Submitted on July 3, 2011Tahrir promises to leave Greece tomorrow
Normally, Agios Nikolaos (pronounced AY-os Ni-ko-lay-osh) is a sleepy Mediterannean tourist town. Tourists, many shades of red, wander in the blazing heat, biding their time between buffet lunch and buffet dinner. A motorized train picks up and unloads carts of wandering wallets at various spots of mild interest.
Targeting Professor Terri Ginsberg's Academic and Speech Freedoms
Submitted on July 2, 2011University of North Carolina (UNC) Professor Terri Ginsberg is one of many victims. She was denied tenure-track positioning, then fired from her visiting professorship at North Carolina State University (NCSU) "pertaining to (her) scholarship and teaching on the Palestinian-Israeli conflict."
Jello Biafra Cancels Gig in Tel Aviv
Submitted on July 2, 2011By Nora Barrows-Friedman - June 29, 2011
After weeks of sustained protest and outcry from punk rock supporters, Palestinian solidarity activists, and boycott campaigners, punk rock icon Jello Biafra has agreed to cancel his upcoming show in Tel Aviv...Biafra’s decision to cancel...is the right one, but he still seems under the impression that the boycott is a fringe movement that he has the right to ignore.
I Am Indigenist: Notes on the Ideology of the Fourth World
Submitted on July 2, 2011By Ward Churchill - Znet
This essay was first published September 20, 2000.
In the sense that I use the term, indigenism is...the outlook that guided our great leaders of the past: King Philip and Pontiac, Tecumseh and Creek Mary and Osceola, Black Hawk, Nancy Ward and Satanta, Lone Wolf and Red Cloud, Satank and Quannah Parker, Left Hand and Crazy Horse, Dull Knife and Chief Joseph, Sitting Bull, Roman Nose and Captain Jack, Louis Ríel and Poundmaker and Geronimo, Cochise and Mangus, Victorio, Chief Seattle, and on and on.
Rebellious Queers Plan Week-long Anti-Corporate Alternative to Pride
Submitted on July 2, 2011A version of this article first appeared in Wayves Magazine. This article uses the singular, gender-neutral pronoun “they” and refers to cis gender people, meaning those people whose sex and gender are mostly aligned.
UK "Welfare Reform" Will Make 40,000 More Families Homeless
Submitted on July 2, 2011By Daniel Boffey and Toby Helm - Saturday 2 July 2011
[British Prime Minister] David Cameron has been warned by one of his most trusted cabinet ministers that his welfare policies risk making 40,000 families homeless...The extraordinary claim, in a letter to the prime minister from the office of Eric Pickles, the communities secretary, exposes deep splits at the heart of government over plans to cap benefit at £500 a week per family.
Greece Arrests Captain of U.S. Gaza-Bound Boat
Submitted on July 2, 201102 July 2011 -Al Jazeera
The captain of a US ship bound for Gaza has been arrested by Greek authorities for a felony after being brought before a prosecutor...The boat, which is part of a Freedom Flotilla aiming to break Israel's [blockade] of the Palestinian territory, set sail on Friday from the Greek port of Perama [but] was towed back to shore by the Greek coast guard.
The Invasion of Australia: Official, At Last
Submitted on July 2, 2011By John Pilger - July 02, 2011
“We were invaded...It is the truth and it shouldn’t be watered down. We wouldn’t expect Jewish people to accept a watered-down version of the Holocaust, so why should we?”
- Paul Morris, Aboriginal adviser to Sydney City Council
Pack Journalism Anti-Gaddafi Propaganda
Submitted on July 2, 2011Western media, especially America's, mostly ignore multiple Obama wars, focusing mainly on promoting terror bombing Libya, slaughtering civilians to save them.
Israel: How Low Can They Go?
Submitted on July 2, 2011By Kevin Neish - rabble.ca
Earlier flotilla ships in 2007-08 got rammed by the Israeli navy...Last year, they attacked the flotilla [and]...beat, tasered, gassed, and shot 63 peace activists, murdering nine...Now the Israeli government is reduced to sabotaging our civilian aid ships while we are in foreign ports.
The Conservative Plague Attacking Canada
Submitted on July 2, 2011By Gerry Caplan - July 2, 2011
...[W]hat have Canadians done to evoke the wrath of the heavens? What have Ontarians done?...It's a trifecta, folks. Harper the asbestos killer in Ottawa, Ford the city-wrecker in Toronto, and, come October 6, very likely [Ontario Conservative leader Tim] Hudak...in Ontario...What have ordinary people done to deserve this plague of right-wing Conservatives? Equally mysterious, why have so many ordinary folks supported them?
"Greece, at the Moment, is Part of Israeli Foreign Policy"
Submitted on July 2, 2011By Miles Howe - July 2, 2011
Today, as the Tahrir remains unable to leave the port of Agios Nikolaos, the [Canadian Boat to Gaza] secured the assistance of an ally within Greek politics...Mihalis Kritsotakis, representative from Heraklion, the main seat on the island of Crete, paid a visit to the locked-down Tahrir..."Why in this situation do we break between Greeks and Palestinians, and Arabs?...And why do we go against the feeling of the Greek people?"
Not Giving Up! Your Canadian Boat to Gaza activists and journalists
Submitted on July 2, 2011At an early morning meeting to go over the day's strategy...
Miles will be reporting regularly to the Halifax Media Co-op from the Canadian Boat to Gaza. Visit Dispatches from the Tahrir for updates.
"Greece, at the moment, is part of Israeli foreign policy"
Submitted on July 2, 2011Mihalis Kritsotakis, elected member from Heraklion, takes a stand, Canada Kayak to Gaza breaks Greek blockade
Agios Nikolaos, Crete, Greece -- Credit the Canadian Boat to Gaza for stepping into the Greek political ring. Today, as the Tahrir remains unable to leave the port of Agios Nikolaos, the CBG secured the assistance of an ally within Greek politics.
Death by a Thousand Papercuts?
Submitted on July 1, 2011The Greek government has crumbled in the face Israeli pressure, and has issued a ban on the sailing of all Freedom Flotilla II boats to Gaza. The Canadian Boat to Gaza, the Tahrir, sits in a marina in Agios Nikolaos. It is unwilling to stay, but unable to go.
WikiLeaks Document on Gaza Blockade Puts Israel's Flotilla Propaganda to Shame
Submitted on July 1, 2011By Alex Kane - June 29, 2011
"Israeli officials have confirmed to [U.S.] Embassy officials on multiple occasions that they intend to keep the Gazan economy functioning at the lowest level possible consistent with avoiding a humanitarian crisis...As part of their overall embargo plan against Gaza, Israeli officials have confirmed...on multiple occasions that they intend to keep the Gazan economy on the brink of collapse without quite pushing it over the edge."
- U.S. State Department cable, published by WikiLeaks
Greece Crumbles Under Israeli Pressure, Tahrir Blocked, Activists Occupy Boat
Submitted on July 1, 2011By Miles Howe - Halifax Media Co-op
For days now, the administrative requirements from port authorities at the marina in Agios Nikolaos have become more and more obscure, culminating today with the discovery that the Tahrir's radio did not have the proper signal call, and simply could not sail without it..."They were looking to see if they could find something...And they kept looking and looking and looking, with another officer, and another agency, and another officer, and another agency, they kept coming...looking."
"No Photo Ops With Fucking Cops": Ladies Anarchist Solidarity Society Forms Anti-Policing Contingent at Toronto Pride
Submitted on July 1, 2011July 1, 2011 - Toronto Media Co-op
The Ladies Anarchist Solidarity Society (LASS) has called for an anti-policing contingent at this year’s parade “to be vocal for the members in our community who can't because they are continually targeted by police” and to “remember the roots of Pride”. They see it as important to not forget past struggles of the queer and trans community against the police and not condone its continuation today by uncritically accepting or encouraging police participation.
Israel Extends Gaza Blockade to Greece, Canadian Boat to Gaza Challenges Political Interference
Submitted on July 1, 2011July 1, 2011 - rabble.ca
In an attempt by local authorities to confiscate the Canadian ship Tahrir's transit logs, it has been revealed that a Greek Ministerial order has been issued to prevent any ships from leaving ports in Greece if the destination is Gaza..."Israel has in effect extended the illegal blockade of Gaza to Greek ports, using Greece's economic difficulties to influence the government's position..."
Greece Crumbles Under Israeli Pressure, Tahrir Blocked in Agios Nikolaos, Activists Occupy Boat
Submitted on July 1, 2011As the Greek government today buckled under Israeli pressure and issued an outright ban on Freedom Flotilla II boats leaving Greece bound for Gaza, the action came fast today in Agios Nikolaos, on the Greek Island of Crete, where the Tahrir has been stationed for several weeks.
The Criminalization of the Canadian Postal Strike and the Role of the Unions and NDP
Submitted on July 1, 2011By Keith Jones - WSWS
Canada’s Conservative government used its newly acquired parliamentary majority to criminalize the anti-concessions struggle waged by Canada Post’s 48,000 urban letter carriers, mail sorters, and postal clerks. But the government had no need to mobilize the courts and police to enforce its savage strikebreaking law. That was done by the trade unions and their political allies in the New Democratic Party (NDP).
Washington Gives Green Light for Attack on Unarmed Gaza Flotilla, Including Ship with 50 Americans on Board
Submitted on July 1, 2011By Stephen Zunes - June 30, 2011
The risk of an Israeli attack on the flotilla is real. Israeli commandos illegally assaulted a similar flotilla in international waters on May 31 of last year, killing nine people on board one of the vessels, including...a 19-year old U.S. citizen. Scores of others...were brutally beaten and more than a dozen others were shot but survived their wounds...The Obama administration never filed a complaint with the Israeli government, demonstrating its willingness to allow the armed forces of U.S. allies to murder U.S. citizens on the high seas.
No Photo Ops, With the Fucking Cops
Submitted on July 1, 2011The Ladies Anarchist Solidarity Society is forming an anti-policing contingent at Toronto’s Pride Parade while the Toronto Police continues to march at this year’s event, the 30th anniversary of the Toronto bathhouse raids.
Lies, Damn Lies and Safe Nuclear Power
Submitted on July 1, 2011In any form, nuclear power is inherently unsafe.
New Video from Test Their Logik: No One Is Illegal
Submitted on July 1, 2011Controversial hip-hop duo, Test Their Logik, released their newest music video; "No One is Illegal" today to commemorate so-called Canada Day. The music video, directed and produced by film-maker Amy Miller of "Wide Open Exposure", takes a strong stand against Canadian nationalism.
Lost in Psychiatryland
Submitted on July 1, 2011By MARTHA ROSENBERG - July 1-3, 2011
"Psychiatry mimics science but is not a real science...That gives psychiatrists free reign to just experiment and symptom chase, often insanely chasing the side effects and negative interactions of the current drug regimen with more and more drugs. Polypharmacy is also a way psychiatrists can distinguish themselves in an increasingly competitive market. No one believes you need a specialist for one drug -- any primary care physician can give you Zoloft -- but for multi-drug therapy you do."
- Florida Psychiatrist Dr. Phillip Sinaikin, author of Psychiatryland
Kabul Hotel Attack Shakes U.S. Occupation Regime in Afghanistan
Submitted on July 1, 2011By Alex Lantier - 1 July 2011
The June 28-29 attack by Afghan insurgents on the luxury Intercontinental Hotel in Kabul has again exposed the ineffectiveness of US-backed Afghan security forces and the political isolation of the US occupation regime in Afghanistan...Police at the hotel reportedly refused to fire on the attackers, and Special Forces from the US and New Zealand were brought in to attack the insurgents.
Canadian Boat to Gaza Blockaded in Greece
Submitted on July 1, 2011Greece: Syntagma Square, What Next?
Submitted on July 1, 2011By Nikos Raptis - July 01, 2011
Yesterday, Wednesday, June 29, 2011, and the day before yesterday, the Greek police at Syntagma Square acted against the people of Athens worse than the Nazis during the 1941 - 1944 Nazi occupation and worse than the police of the military dictatorship of 1967 - 1974. This is written here by a person who has lived through the Nazi occupation and through the military dictatorship.
Happy Alberta Day, Canada! Get Used to It!
Submitted on July 1, 2011By David J. Climenhaga - July 1, 2011
...[W]hat is not yet widely understood in the rest of Canada is the extent to which the Conservative brain-trust of neo-Cons...right-wing academics, corporate "think tankers" and their ilk have been influenced by the petroleum-driven political culture of [Alberta]. This is a place with a monochromatic mainstream media, worshipful attitude toward American-style ideological extremism and reflexive anti-labour attitudes and practices that have been reflected literally for generations in Alberta's legislation.
Housing and Homelessness in the Downtown Eastside
Submitted on July 1, 2011“In Our Own Voices,” Week IV
In 2006, I found myself going around in circles for six months trying to find work. Shortly thereafter I became homeless and my health issues deteriorated and I had chronic pain. I had spent three months couch-surfing on my brother’s couch and all my belongings were in storage. I was constantly anxious about how I was going to pay for the next month’s rent for storage.
Pfizer’s Neurontin Killed Our Husbands
Submitted on June 30, 2011By Martha Rosenberg - Dissident Voice
Adverse reactions to Neurontin have been greatly underestimated and unreported...harming unsuspecting families and their physicians. “We must have the full and accurate facts about a drug’s risks to make good decisions when family members consider treatment, especially with psychoactive drugs. We cannot do that if pharmaceutical companies are allowed to taint the outcome of clinical trials and bury the harmful evidence.”
U.S. Embassy Requests Funding for Anti-Chavez Groups: Wikileaks
Submitted on June 30, 2011By Eva Golinger - June 30, 2011
The latest Wikileaks releases include cables sent from the US Embassy in Caracas to the State Department, Central Intelligence Agency, National Security Council, and other US entities, indicating requests for additional US government funding for opposition groups in Venezuela. The cables corroborate documents previously obtained under the US Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) that evidence ongoing US funding to support anti-Chavez groups and political parties in Venezuela actively working to destabilize and overthrow the South American government.
Senator Calls for U.S. Special Forces to Attack the Gaza Flotilla
Submitted on June 30, 2011June 30, 2011 - Counterpunch
Dear Senator [Mark] Kirk:
A [military] website...reports that you said the United States should "make available all necessary special operations and naval support to the Israeli Navy to effectively disable flotilla vessels before they can pose a threat to Israeli coastal security or put Israeli lives at risk"...[W]e are your constituents. It's not too late for you to acknowledge that your earlier call for military action against us jeopardizes our safety and to reverse your claim which insinuates that we are dangerous people.
Freedom Flotilla II: Red Tape, More Sabotage, Snakes in the Grass
Submitted on June 30, 2011By Miles Howe - June 30, 2011
Word of violence towards other Flotilla participants on the streets of Greece, in particular by seizing their means of communication and their identification, has also filtered through the communication channels. And today, reports surfaced of Israeli spies, right outside our hotel, attempting to conscript locals. Death threats have also circulated to the children of Canadian Boat to Gaza participants.
Meaner and Tougher IMF With Lagarde
Submitted on June 30, 2011Christine Lagarde is a club member in good standing, a neo-liberal hard-liner, chosen to enforce structural adjustment harshness, starting with Greece.
Red Tape, More Sabotage, Snakes in the Grass
Submitted on June 30, 2011American boat grounded, Irish boat sabotaged, lip-readers in local cafe
GREECE – In an effort to run a tightening net of security, port police, and legal mumbo-jumbo, the American boat in the Freedom Flotilla II, The Audacity of Hope, this afternoon revved up its engines and headed for the open seas.
Canadian Boat to Gaza: Creating Momentum, Creating Victories
Submitted on June 29, 2011By Amy Miller - June 28, 2011
“Last month, John Baird, [Canada’s] Foreign Affairs Minister, called the [Canadian Boat to Gaza] ‘provocative’ and warned that he supported Israel’s so-called ‘right to defend themselves’ against the flotilla, and that Canada wouldn’t be coming to the help of the Canadians if there was an attack [by Israel]...This is unacceptable. The government should be ensuring safe passage and putting pressure on Israel that they won’t harm the boat.”
- Wendy Goldsmith, Canadian Boat to Gaza
It Was a Good Day to Die: 135 Years Since the Battle of the Greasy Grass
Submitted on June 29, 2011Sunday, June 26, 2011 - People Of Color Organize!
Generally known to settler historians as the Battle of the Little Bighorn...what is known to us as the Battle of the Greasy Grass was an attempted massacre of what was thought to be a primarily civilian Indian encampment by the Amerikkkan 7th Cavalry commanded by one of the most cowardly butchers in the employ of the expanding white settler colony, George Armstrong Custer.
As Athens Burns, IDF Spin Machine Has Baseless Allegations Denounced
Submitted on June 29, 2011By Miles Howe - June 29, 2011
At the time of writing, Athens has descended into a state of chaos. Clashes between protesters and riot police have turned violent, and the People's Assembly of Syndagma Square reports that over 500 protesters will be transported to hospital “with respiratory problems, traumatic brain injuries, and heart attacks”...Amidst this extremely serious situation, the [Israeli 'Defence' Forces] yesterday floated the completely unfounded story that some activists aboard the Freedom Flotilla II were planning on using chemical weapons against IDF soldiers.
Washington Plans Further Actions Against Venezuela
Submitted on June 29, 2011By Eva Golinger - June 29, 2011
During a hearing on the Foreign Relations Committee of the House of Representatives...on “sanctioned activities in Venezuela,” Congressional Democrats and Republicans asked the Obama administration to take more aggressive actions against the government of Hugo Chavez in Venezuela...In testimony before the Committee, the Assistant Under-Secretary of State for Latin America...revealed that the administration of Barack Obama is “seriously considering” labeling Venezuela a “terrorist state”.
As Athens Burns, IDF Spin Machine's Baseless Allegations Denounced
Submitted on June 29, 2011500 injured in Athens, no chem weapons aboard Freedom Flotilla II
At the time of writing, Athens has descended into a state of chaos.
No One Is Illegal-Vancouver Solidarity with Canadian Union of Postal Workers
Submitted on June 29, 2011June 26th, 2011 - No One Is Illegal-Vancouver
You are our neighbours and members of our community...The Canadian Union of Postal Workers has a long history as a progressive voice for working people, and those marginalized by the exploitative system in which we live. We commend your principled stance for maternity benefits, your opposition to the occupation of Afghanistan, your support for Security Certificate detainees, your solidarity with migrant and undocumented workers, and your role in leading the labour BDS movement for a free Palestine.
U.S. Steps Up Harassment of Manning, WikiLeaks Supporters
Submitted on June 29, 2011By Ash Pemberton - Tuesday, June 28, 2011
The United States government has stepped up its intimidation of whistle-blowing media organisation WikiLeaks by forcing several of its supporters to appear before secret grand jury hearings...Those subpoenaed have been targeted for their connections to Bradley Manning, the US army private suspected of leaking thousands of secret documents which were later published by WikiLeaks.
Israeli Anti-Freedom Flotilla II Propaganda
Submitted on June 29, 2011Participants on board all 10 ships haven't come this far to turn back or let imperial viciousness deter them, especially when their mission is vital and just.
Greece Gripped by General Strike
Submitted on June 29, 2011Tuesday, June 28, 2011 - Agence France-Presse
ATHENS – Greece ground to a halt on Tuesday as angry workers launched a 48-hour general strike against an austerity drive ordered by its bankruptcy-threatened government in exchange for a European bailout...Public transport was halted in Athens for the fourth general strike called this year by the country's two biggest unions, with the exception of the metro whose drivers decided not to strike so as to allow Athenians to swell protest numbers.
Every Mohawk a Suspect: Why Drug Raids in Kanehsatake Feel Like Police Invasions
Submitted on June 29, 2011Consider how police conduct drug raids elsewhere. They obtain warrants naming specific individuals. They isolate the address specified in the warrant. They execute the warrant with a minimum of inconvenience to the neighbourhood...A raid at Kanehsatake is different. The whole community...has a police roadblock. All Mohawks are considered suspect and potentially dangerous. This explains why the police presence is massive...The disruption to the community is huge.
A World Overwhelmed by Western Hypocrisy
Submitted on June 29, 2011By PAUL CRAIG ROBERTS - Counterpunch
As the second decade of the 21st century opens, those who oppose US hegemony and the evil that emanates from Washington risk being declared to be “terrorists.” If they are American citizens, they can be assassinated. If they are foreign leaders, their country can be invaded. When captured, they can be executed...or sent off to the [International Criminal Court]...
Australian Labor Government to Stop Welfare Payments to Teenage Mothers
Submitted on June 29, 2011By Tania Baptist - WSWS
In a trial scheme to begin next January, the Gillard Labor government will strip teenage mothers in disadvantaged communities of welfare payments for failing to comply with compulsory “participation” obligations once their babies are just six months old...The attack on one of the most vulnerable groups in society is part of a raft of measures...aimed at forcing the disabled, the long-term unemployed, and single mothers off welfare and into the workforce, where they will become a new source of cheap labour.
The Derailing of Social Democracy
Submitted on June 29, 2011By Ignacio Ramonet - Znet
The massive conversion to free market economics and neo-liberal globalisation, the renunciation of any defence of the welfare state and the public sector, the new alliance with financial capital and banking have all stripped social democracy of the primary features of its identity. Every day people find it harder to tell the difference between "leftist" and "rightist" policies since both do the bidding of the financial bosses of the world.
Summer Student position with The Dominion
Submitted on June 29, 2011The Dominion is seeking a student employee to work out of our Montreal office this summer.
Duration of the position and financial compensation:
7 weeks at 30 hours per week
$14.70/hour
Job description:
Conservative Omnibus Crime Bill an Injustice
Submitted on June 29, 2011By Paula Mallea - June 29, 2011
This fall the Harper government will pass an omnibus crime bill that will imprison thousands more Canadians and cost billions of dollars. It will not...drive the crime rate down. It will simply incarcerate for longer the many citizens who fall afoul of the new laws and mandatory minimum sentences.
The "Trade" Agreement Ottawa and Nova Scotia Want Kept Secret
Submitted on June 29, 2011Packed room hears Canada-Europe trade negotiations denounced
A standing-room-only crowd packed a Halifax meeting room last night to hear about a secret.
From Canada to Greece To Gaza
Submitted on June 29, 2011An interview with Miles Howe as he prepares to sail to Gaza aboard the Tahrir
Since October, 2007, Israel has maintained economic sanctions on Gaza designed to keep Palestinian society on the brink of collapse. Last year, the Freedom Flotilla – a fleet of activists carrying humanitarian aid, attempted to defy Israel’s siege of Gaza.
Shelter-hopping With My Son
Submitted on June 28, 2011“In Our Own Voices,” Week IV
When my son Ulrich was born, his father Patrick and I were renting a basement suite in Patrick’s father’s house. The birth of my son did not change Patrick. Patrick kept partying in the DTES while I was on E. I.
Hillary Clinton Gives Green Light for Israeli Attack on Gaza Flotilla
Submitted on June 28, 2011By Ali Abunimah - June 28, 2011
In comments recently, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton seemed to lay the ground...for an Israeli military attack on the upcoming Gaza Freedom Flotilla..."[W]e do not believe that the flotilla is a necessary or useful effort to try to assist the people of Gaza...[W]e think that it's not helpful for there to be flotillas that try to provoke actions by entering into Israeli waters and creating a situation in which the Israelis have the right to defend themselves."
NOII-Van Banner Drop, Plasters Immigration Offices in Opposition to Anti Refugee Bill
Submitted on June 28, 2011June 28th, 2011 - No One Is Illegal-Vancouver
No One Is Illegal dropped a large banner which read: “Canada Jails Refugees” above Highway 1 in Vancouver/Burnaby this morning during rush-hour traffic. The group also stickered and plastered the offices of Immigration Canada with messages to scrap Bill C-4. The actions were in response to the reintroduction of Human Smuggling Bill C-4 that targets refugees for mandatory imprisonment and deportation.
France Launches Attack on Long-Term Jobless
Submitted on June 28, 2011By Pierre Mabut - 28 June 2011
The ruling right-wing [government] of French President Nicolas Sarkozy held a convention on June 8 to launch an all-out attack on basic welfare payments to the long-term unemployed...The reactionary tone was set by Sarkozy’s minister for European affairs...who denounced welfare...recipients as a “cancer of French society.” This is part of Sarkozy’s campaign to get re-elected in 2012 — amid savage cuts in public services and the stoking of anti-immigrant racism.
The NDP and Libya: What Would Tommy Douglas Think?
Submitted on June 28, 2011By Chris Shaw - rabble.ca
The French anarchist writer Sebastien Faure wrote that, "I am aware of the fact that it is not always possible to do what one should do. But I know that there are things that on no account can one ever do." The NDP's Jack Layton is certainly no anarchist. Indeed, it is even becoming uncertain if he and the NDP are even socialists anymore, but they all would do well to remember Faure's sage advice...There are simply some things one should not do...And one of those things that one should never do is to abandon all principle for political expediency and the hope of future electoral gain.
Freedom Flotilla II: Great News, Good News, Less Good News
Submitted on June 28, 2011By Miles Howe - June 28, 2011
GREECE – Events begin to progress rapidly, as the international game of cat and mouse that has become the Freedom Flotilla II now enters a phase of rapid action. One year of planning, both on the side of those wanting to peacefully deliver humanitarian aid to the people of Gaza, and on the side of those eager to keep the illegal blockade of Gaza in place, are now coming to fruition. For the moment, each side appears to be scoring victories.
FBI Entraps Two More Muslims
Submitted on June 28, 2011Innocence or guilt doesn't matter, just the illusion that America is now safer when, in fact, each conviction assures greater insecurity, leaving many to wonder who's next...Abu Khalid Abdul-Latif (aka Joseph Anthony Davis) and Walli Mujahidh (aka Frederick Dominque) are the latest victims.
Great News, Good News, Less Good News
Submitted on June 28, 2011Medication loaded aboard the Tahrir, Irish boat sets sail, Greece-Sweden-Norway effort sabotaged
GREECE – Events begin to progress rapidly, as the international game of cat and mouse that has become the Freedom Flotilla II now enters a phase of rapid action. One year of planning, both on the side of those wanting to peacefully deliver humanitarian aid to the people of Gaza, and on the side of those eager to keep the illegal blockade of Gaza in place, are now coming to fruition.
Who supports the postal workers?
Submitted on June 28, 2011Click on one of the above photos to view the photo essay.
The Tipping Point #2 Canadian Boat to Gaza
Submitted on June 28, 2011Creating momentum, creating victories.
It was easy to choose the campaign for the second installment of the Tipping Point: after a year of preparation, June 27-July 1 is the week for the Canadian Boat to Gaza (CBG).
Harper’s mayday mayhem: Newfoundlanders demonstrate against Harper government’s wrecking agenda
Submitted on June 27, 2011Decision to close Marine Rescue Centre broadly condemned
(June 28, 2011, revised June 29) – BETWEEN 2,500 and 3,000 Newfoundlanders participated in a vigorous rally Saturday, June 25th, on the St.
Stonewall TO: Never Again?
Submitted on June 27, 2011100 Bones for Grassroots Stories
Submitted on June 27, 2011Pitch to The Dominion, a hundred bucks could be yours
As we do every month, in July we will pay two contributors for news features to be published in The Dominion. We prioritize solutions-oriented news pieces with a Canadian angle, including photo essays and video pitches. Pitches are welcome from anyone; priority for payment goes to those who have previously contributed.
How to pitch a story:
Israel Toughening Conditions for Palestinian Detainees
Submitted on June 27, 2011Torture, abuse and degrading treatment are commonplace in violation of international law prohibiting it. Nonetheless, a 2007 B'Tselem/HaMoked report titled, "Absolute Prohibition: The Torture and Ill-Treatment of Palestinian Detainees" estimated that around 85% are subjected to torture and mistreatment.
A Year Later, Bitter G20 Memories Linger for Many Activists
Submitted on June 27, 2011Amalia Savva experienced the ugly side of last year's G20 summit protests in Toronto first hand when she saw a friend and fellow organizer with 11 staples in his head and a severe concussion after a police baton cracked open his skull..."This type of police and state violence is not new and it will not get old...The use of excessive violence to undermine the rights of people is used very often and in many different situations."
Archaeology Branch Lies to Protect Exclusion of Tsartlip Nation
Submitted on June 27, 2011By Jared Nyberg - June 25, 2011
When researching this article, it came to light that after the 2006 Bear Mountain cave incident (in which a sacred shamanic cave was blown up by developers and the Archaeology Branch) the Tsartlip were no longer being consulted in land use decisions. The BC Archaeology Branch explained to this writer that the Ministry of Aboriginal Relations had declared the Tsartlip did not have “first tenure” to the area and did not need to be consulted.
Homelessness and Police Brutality
Submitted on June 27, 2011By Karen Lahey / DTES Power of Women Group - Vancouver Media Co-op
I have lost faith in the police. I fear that if I ever needed them to help me, they would turn on me instead. They do little to protect against actual violence, like all the murdered and missing women. Instead, they are violent towards us, frequently arresting people for minor things like jaywalking, or harassing people who are just standing on the street...I imagine a Downtown Eastside where we are free from the arbitrary beatings and the brutality of the Vancouver Police Department...
As We Train To Go: Reflections on Boat to Gaza Preparations in Greece, Interview with Bob Lovelace
Submitted on June 27, 2011By Miles Howe - Halifax Media Co-op
To look at us, you'd think we were just one more group of middle-class tourists chasing the Mediterranean sun...Behind closed doors, however, it is strictly business. For the past four days we have shaped ourselves into a peaceful force to be reckoned with. Those with experience have taught the rest about water cannons, and percussion grenades, and tear gas, and rubber tipped bullets, and jail solidarity, and about signing nothing without a lawyer. And we take it all in.
Did New Orleans Media Ignore Police Violence After Hurricane Katrina?
Submitted on June 27, 2011By Jordan Flaherty - Dissident Voice
“They were looking for heroes...They had a cozy relationship with the police. They got tips from the police, they were in bed with the police. It was an atmosphere of tolerance for atrocities from the police. They abdicated their responsibility to be critical in their reporting. If a few people got killed that was a small price to pay.”
- Former Orleans Parish District Attorney Eddie Jordan on how an indifferent local media bears partial responsibility for the years of cover-up of police violence in New Orleans
Less Civil, More Liberties: The G20 Anniversary Breakaway March
Submitted on June 27, 2011Hundreds of people converged on Queens Park this past Saturday to mark the one year anniversary of the G20 and call for a public inquiry. The rally, organized by labour and civil liberties groups...was billed as a "freedom festival", not as a protest. Many were surprised and disappointed that organizers had no intentions to take the streets, and soon rumours were being spread throughout the crowd that an unpermitted breakaway march would take place at the end of the rally.
Breaching Gaza's Siege Update
Submitted on June 27, 2011Israel keeps exerting pressure to block humanitarian efforts to deliver vital to life and other essential aid to besieged Gazans.
NDP Facilitates Passage of Strike-Breaking Law
Submitted on June 27, 2011By Keith Jones - WSWS
The trade union-based New Democratic Party (NDP) has facilitated passage of a savage strikebreaking law that criminalizes all job action by the country’s 48,000 urban postal workers and ensures sweeping contract concessions will be imposed upon them...On Saturday...the NDP bowed to pressure from the majority Conservative government and the corporate media and abandoned its half-hearted campaign to delay passage of Bill C-6.
Homelessness and Police Brutality
Submitted on June 27, 2011“In Our Own Voices,” Week IV
In the winter of 2000, I was co-managing a 4 bedroom house in Walley, BC. My co-manager and I became friends, but eventually he wanted to have a relationship. When I refused, he started to become verbally abusive and controlling with me. I took the abuse for a while, until I started to get incredibly stressed. I decided to leave in the spring of 2001.
As we train to go: reflections on Boat to Gaza preparations in Greece, interview with Bob Lovelace
Submitted on June 27, 2011To look at us, you'd think we were just one more group of middle-class tourists chasing the Mediterranean sun. And we like it that way.
Britain Moves to Criminalize Squatting
Submitted on June 26, 2011SchNEWS - Friday 24th June 2011 | Issue 776
We are in the midst of a housing crisis in which rents are increasing, people are struggling to get mortgages and housing benefit is being slashed...Meanwhile, 870,000 homes lie empty and there’s enough empty commercial property to create 420,000 new homes. Far from being a social menace - squatting is a positive short-term solution to homelessness, requiring initiative and responsibility. It’s free of government cost and management. To make it illegal right now is both stupid and inhumane...
Living Among Us: Activists Speak Out on Police Infiltration
Submitted on June 26, 2011By Tim Groves - June 20, 2011
“One of my former friends disappeared, and it became very obvious to us that she was a police officer...I cried on her shoulder and had lots of close conversations with her before realizing that her job was to manipulate people into giving information, and to create social profiles on us...It was really upsetting and infuriating, and I remember feeling isolated and not able to trust people...That is part of the point of infiltration - creating this sort of fear and paralysis.”
- Joshua Gilbert, a house painter involved with anarchist organizing in Guelph, Ontario
Langford's Bridge to Nowhere
Submitted on June 26, 2011By Jared Nyberg - June 25, 2011
The Bear Mountain Interchange is Langford’s “Bridge to Nowhere”. Popular sentiment on the issue would seem to encourage the “rewilding” of the space and protection of the damaged million year old karst caves and Salish cultural sites.
Worker Unrest in China Sends Tremors Through World Capitalism
Submitted on June 26, 2011By John Chan - WSWS
Broader industrial unrest in China would have far-reaching ramifications for international corporations, ranging from German machine exporters to the mining giants in Australia and Brazil. General Motors now produces more cars and trucks in China than in the US and Walmart is dependent on China for most of its cheap consumer goods. Apple’s iPhones and iPads are made by huge sweatshops run by Foxconn. Foreign-owned subsidiaries directly employ 16 million Chinese workers, with many millions more involved in complex supply chains for transnational corporations.
Private Prisons Love Mass Incarceration and Want Politicians to Love It Too
Submitted on June 26, 2011By Ryan J. Reilly - Friday, June 24, 2011
"Since private prison companies are in the business to make money, policies that maintain or increase incarceration boost their revenues; from a business perspective, the economic and social costs of mass incarceration are 'externalities' that aren't figured into their corporate bottom line..."
Is Greece Being Blackmailed to Put the Brakes on Gaza Flotilla?
Submitted on June 26, 2011By Medea Benjamin - June 26, 2011
It appears that the Greek government is bowing to intense pressure from the Israelis — and possibly the U.S. government — to try to block the flotilla...The move to block the U.S. boat is just the latest in a flurry of recent activity designed to thwart the flotilla. Israel has publicly stated that it is pressuring countries around the world to stop their citizens from participating.
Canadians Preparing to Sail for Gaza
Submitted on June 26, 2011By Amira Hass - Znet
Canadian activists raised about $350,000 over the past year for the operation, setting up an account in the name of a group called Turtle Island Humanitarian Aid. The Canadian government has announced it does not support the flotilla, viewing it as a provocation against Israel.
Violating Palestinian Rights
Submitted on June 26, 2011Besides its Knesset, security forces and intelligence services, Israel's High Court and Civil Administration ravage Palestinian civil society repressively.
Bros and Barbarism
Submitted on June 26, 2011June 26, 2011 - Vancouver Media Co-op
In a strongly stratified city such as Vancouver, a new aristocracy has formed, with similar attitudes to their ancient counterparts. An arrogance that has become so powerful that it is more than simply distasteful, it's downright perilous at times for the average citizen...Main Street from Terminal to Hastings is quickly being developed into another Granville Street as expensive commuter bars have begun to appear, uprooting the locals and bringing them into contact and conflict with hostile affluent youth.
Breaching Gaza's Siege
Submitted on June 25, 2011Suffocating besieged Gazans, Israel is committing slow-motion genocide. Global activists are determined to stop it and hold Israeli officials accountable for decades of crimes of war and against humanity - unspeakable atrocities financed by criminal co-conspirators in Washington.
COPE, Vision and Labour’s Plan of Action
Submitted on June 25, 2011By Nathan Crompton - June 24, 2011
In 2008, we could not have known that Vision Vancouver would break their progressive promises. It was difficult to argue that [the Coalition of Progressive Electors] could win on an independent slate, because there was the possibility of splitting the left vote. Today, the situation could not be more different. Vision has proven themselves to be a pro-business, right wing party.
"G20 Land" and the Real Canada: One Year After the G20 Protests
Submitted on June 25, 2011By Megan Kinch - June 25, 2011
...[I]n an atmosphere that approached de-facto martial law, over 1000 people were held in inhumane conditions in the Eastern Avenue detention centre. No one knows how many people were detained, dumped from police vans without money or cell phones in remote parts of [Toronto], searched illegally, kettled by police, sexually assaulted, or beaten.
If You Want to Understand What’s Really Going on in the World, Stop Thinking Like a Middle Class American
Submitted on June 25, 2011By William Hicks - Dissident Voice
...[R]ising food prices have ALWAYS been a key factor in revolts against oppressive regimes...[I]n order to really gain an understanding of what was happening in Egypt and elsewhere, my friend needed to stop thinking like a typical middle class American...It doesn’t take too much imagination...to realize why people in countries where our military is dropping drone missiles might hate us.
“G20 Land” and the Real Canada
Submitted on June 25, 2011One Year After the G20 Protests
The streetscape of Toronto is overlaid in our minds with stories from the G20 protests. In one such story, memorialized on Youtube, a man refuses to be searched, asserting his rights as a citizen of Canada. “This ain’t Canada now” say the police in the grainy video. “This is G20 land.”
G20/G8 Summit Opponents Infiltrated by Police
Submitted on June 24, 2011By Dave Seglins - CBC News
Newly released G8/G20 summit documents reveal the RCMP and various Ontario police forces spent several months infiltrating anti-war, anti-globalization and anarchist groups with the use of undercover officers ahead of last June's summits in Huntsville and Toronto...The reports omit details on specific individuals or groups, nor do they offer conclusions about what, if any, crimes or plots of violence were detected.
Israel Escalates Pressure and Threats Against Gaza Flotilla
Submitted on June 24, 2011By Bego Astigarraga - The Electronic Intifada
As the second Gaza Freedom Flotilla, made up of some 10 ships carrying 1,000 activists from 20 countries, gets ready to sail for the besieged Gaza Strip, Israeli authorities are stepping up their threats...The Israeli daily Haaretz revealed that the Israeli military held a large drill for special commandos and snipers to prepare to intercept the flotilla.
Remembering Geronimo Pratt
Submitted on June 24, 2011By Leonard Peltier - June 24, 2011
The combined resources of the FBI, Los Angeles police, and the L.A. District Attorney’s office couldn’t defeat him. What those in power did not understand was that Geronimo Ji Jaga Pratt was no ordinary man. He was a giant among men and remained focused during the most trying times. What they did not comprehend was that you can jail the warrior but not his ideas, not his strength, nor his affect on others.
Turkish - Israeli Relations
Submitted on June 24, 2011Turkey wants Middle East security. Israel often threatens it. Both countries also vie for regional dominance, while at the same time cooperating on military, intelligence and other mutually strategic interests.
Brainwashing the Corporate Way
Submitted on June 24, 2011By John Pilger - Znet
Professionals are said to be meritorious and non-ideological. Yet, in spite of their education...they think less independently than non-professionals...[W]hat makes the modern professional is not technical knowledge but “ideological discipline”. Those in higher education and the media do “political work” but in a way that is not seen as political...“Taking sides” is anathema...What matters is the "right attitude".
Permanent Iraq and Afghanistan Occupations Planned
Submitted on June 24, 2011Controlling Eurasia's vast oil and gas reserves explains why America plans permanent Iraq and Afghanistan occupations, terror bombs Libya, and heads toward possible general war by threatening Syria, Iran, and perhaps other states to fuel its insatiable military-industrial appetite.
Jello Biafra Plays Israel: Bedtime for Punk Rock Relevancy?
Submitted on June 24, 2011By COLIN KALMBACHER - June 24-26, 2011
...[W]hen I heard that Jello Biafra was bucking the [boycott, divestment and sanctions call against Israel]...and had even considered playing a show in Tel Aviv, I was quite simply heartbroken. I wanted to break a violin...Midnight Apache helicopter raids against the civilian populations of the West Bank? I first heard about it on one of Biafra's spoken-word albums...But now the source seems like a quivering and faulty projector.
I Am Spartacus! As Greece prepares to boil, the Admiral speaks
Submitted on June 24, 2011The situation in Greece chugs along, and threatens to reach a boiling point on June 28, when Prime Minister George Papandreous attempts to push austerity measures through parliament. The austerity measures, handed down by the IMF, must be passed, or the IMF will deny the latest instalment of the latest $110 billion loan to Greece.
June 2011: Our Streets Are Still On Fire
Submitted on June 24, 2011June 24, 2011 - Toronto Media Co-op
During the G20 meetings in June 2010 the world was shocked by the police brutality, corporate exploitation and state repression witnessed in downtown Toronto. Yet for racialized peoples, indigenous peoples, poor people, migrant workers, and many others...this is an everyday reality. Our communities have been...in a state of emergency because governments insist on securing corporate profits at our expense...Our streets are bleeding and the government of Canada and its allied institutions are responsible.
Children Abducted from their Bedrooms
Submitted on June 23, 2011By Mel Frykberg - 17 June 2011
“Father please help me! Don’t let them take me away,” screamed 12-year-old Ahmed Siyam as approximately fifty heavily armed Israeli soldiers and police dragged the handcuffed and blindfolded boy away...Last month Ahmed was pulled out of his bed...by Israeli security forces led by Shin Bet agents from Israel’s domestic intelligence agency. He was...accused of throwing stones at Israeli soldiers and police during clashes with Palestinian youth in the volatile neighborhood of Silwan in occupied East Jerusalem.
Daily Struggle and Resistance in the Downtown Eastside
Submitted on June 23, 2011“In Our Own Voices,” Week III
I could not help wondering what life would have been like if I had stayed back East, as I walked on Hastings and Main Street on a gray, rainy, rather typical Vancouver day. My reverie was broken by an ugly sight before me near Pigeon Park. A man and a woman were walking just in front of me and appeared to be having a casual conversation.
Canada's NDP Stampedes to the Right
Submitted on June 23, 2011By Keith Jones - WSWS
Having been catapulted into the role of Official Opposition, the trade union-based New Democratic Party (NDP) is now seeking to convince the Canadian ruling class that it can be trusted to rule on their behalf, supplanting the Liberal Party as the bourgeoisie’s “left” party of government.
McCain/Kerry Support Imperial War on Libya
Submitted on June 23, 2011Bipartisan support for US imperial aggression.
G20 Defendants to Challenge "No Demonstration" Conditions
Submitted on June 23, 2011By Community Solidarity Network - Toronto Media Co-op
This morning, two G20 defendants, Alex Hundert and Amanda Hiscocks will be attending the Ontario Superior Court...to file for a bail review hearing where they will contest the constitutionality of a bail condition that has been used to prevent G20 defendants from exercising their freedoms of speech, expression and assembly; effectively barring them from participating in their own communities.
The Land of Unlimited Inequality
Submitted on June 23, 2011By Patrick Martin - 23 June 2011
The United States is well on its way to becoming the most unequal society on the planet. An extensive economic analysis of the growing gap between the wealthy and everyone else...provides striking evidence of this trend...[W]hile the incomes of the super-rich have quadrupled...the living standards of working people have either stagnated or declined.
U.S.-Led Terror Bombings Target Civilians
Submitted on June 23, 2011US air and ground operations strategically target civilians, Pentagon (and NATO) denials notwithstanding. They lie despite clear evidence refuting them. Their latest crime claimed 19 Libyans, all civilians, including women and eight children, apologies not forthcoming and deceitful when they do.
NDP MP Pat Martin's Anti-Socialist Speech [Video]
Submitted on June 23, 2011Pat Martin is the New Democratic Party Member of Parliament for Winnipeg Centre [Manitoba]. At the 2011 federal NDP convention in Vancouver, British Columbia, he takes the "pro" microphone and then goes into an attack on Socialism that any right-winger would be proud of.
"I’m Here to Defend What I Said and I’m Not Ashamed of It"
Submitted on June 23, 2011By Megan Kinch - June 22, 2011
“I have no regret for what I said. My only regret is that we didn't succeed in tearing down that fence, and we didn’t succeed in effectively disrupting the G20 in the way it deserved to be disrupted...”
- Jaggi Singh
Greek People Face New Blows, Spain-Inspired Protests Break Out
Submitted on June 23, 2011By Afrodity Giannakis - Green Left Weekly
...[T]he impact on Greek people of the austerity measures demanded by the IMF has been devastating...Official unemployment has reached about 16% — an all-time high...Health and social services have been brutally slashed...Many people cannot meet their most basic needs...Despite this...[the] Panhellenic Socialist Movement (PASOK) government persists on the same disastrous course...The onslaught on Greek people’s lives is going to be even more ferocious.
Racism in Nova Scotia, past, present and future
Submitted on June 23, 2011NEW: Check this story out at the Halifax Media Co-op:
Cornwallis: What's in a Name?
http://halifax.mediacoop.ca/story/cornwallis-%E2%80%93-whats-name/7597
"You Can't Stay at Home": G20 Reflections and the Fight Against Rob Ford
Submitted on June 22, 2011By Syed Hussan - June 21, 2011
Some people might say, as they did during the G20, this is all a done deal, the cuts are going to happen at all levels, so [we] might as well do nothing...[T]he Toronto Stop the Cuts Network believes...[a] network of people that actually organize on the streets [can] mobilize across Toronto to defend services, believing...that people will mobilize to stop things that directly affect them. Their plan goes something like this.
Canadian Media Fails to Deliver: Media Coverage of Canada Post Labour Dispute Uncritical, Inaccurate
Submitted on June 22, 2011On the morning of Tuesday, June 14, letter carriers across the country showed up to go to work as per usual but Canada Post told them to go home; no mail was to be delivered that day. Those workers are full-time letter carriers who deliver mail in our communities Monday to Friday.
Bahrain Sues to Suppress Police State Terror Truths
Submitted on June 22, 2011The Khalifa monarchy "commissioned a UK-based law firm to file a case against The Independent for its reporting on the crackdowns on (internal) protests"...It is mainly directed against an article by correspondent Robert Fisk.
Texas Executes Mentally Handicapped Man After U.S. Supreme Court Rejects Appeal
Submitted on June 22, 2011By Kate Randall - 22 June 2011
Milton Mathis, 32, was executed Tuesday evening at the Huntsville prison in Texas...The US Supreme Court rejected an appeal by Mathis’s attorneys for a reprieve. His defense team had argued that his execution violated the Eighth Amendment to the US Constitution’s ban on cruel and unusual punishment due to Mathis’s mental retardation...In addition to executing the mentally retarded, people suffering from varying types of mental illness have been put to death.
The Kingdom of Hastings and Main
Submitted on June 22, 2011“In Our Own Voices,” Week III
In the fall of 2008, I lost my sister to brain cancer. Only one month later, I lost one of my lifetime friends to a heart attack. A few months after that, I lost another close friend to lung cancer. All these deaths happened in a five-month period. In March 2009, the mother of a good friend of mine passed away. Together these losses led me to decide to retire on my 60th birthday.
Thousands Protest in Athens, Flotilla Must Wait For Now
Submitted on June 22, 2011Greek parliament survives confidence vote, but there's no confidence on the streets
Tens of thousands of Greek protestors again gathered in Syndagma Square last night to voice their non-confidence in embattled Prime Minister George Papandreou and his Panhellenic Socialist Party. The square, which faces parliament, is a 24-hour hotbed of counter-political action.
Greek Austerity Protests: Fury from the Man in the Street
Submitted on June 21, 2011By Karen Kissane - Znet
VASSILIS Dermitzakis saw protesters screaming at riot police from outside a tall iron gate of the botanical gardens in Athens...They were middle-aged, middle-class, well-dressed. He watched in disbelief as they tore a telephone booth out of the ground and charged, ramming the booth against the iron gate..."These people were not anarchists, they were not communists...They were the common people. After that, I realised there were people...much angrier than me."
Message in Harper's Back to Work Law is that Labour Will be Put in its Place
Submitted on June 21, 2011By Fred Wilson - rabble.ca
The Harper government's legislation to end the lock out at Canada Post sends a strong message to Canadian labour. They intend to lower the wages and benefits of public sector workers and they could give a damn about collective bargaining rights.
One Year After G20: Activist Jaggi Singh’s Sentence Suspended
Submitted on June 21, 2011By CLAC-Montréal // Convergence des luttes anti-capitalistes - June 21, 2011
A year later, the judicial circus targeting political opponents continues while police crimes go unpunished. In light of the rising tide of conservatism, cutbacks in social programs and services will increase in the coming years at the same rate as the repression of social movements. But as long as injustice prevails, we continue to take to the streets to confront the capitalist profiteers and governments that are on their payroll!
Reading the Riot Act: Vancouver 2011
Submitted on June 21, 2011By Roshak Momtahen - June 21, 2011
While young (drunk) men in their early 20′s bear the largest deal of blame, the riot was surprisingly heterogeneous. Every time a window was smashed or a car flipped, cheers echoed from crowds as diverse as the city they were in. The Lower Mainland had anticipated the riot...Multitudes stuck around to cheer and take photos while those who were particularly keen...took part in the property destruction.
Canadian delegation talks pipeline impacts in Washington
Submitted on June 21, 2011
June 20, 2011
Canadian first nations and environmental representatives were in Washington recently to discuss the proposed Keystone XL pipeline expansion and future impacts on communities and the environment.
Statement in response to Magazines Canada’s support for back-to-work legislation for CUPW
Submitted on June 21, 2011As representatives of independent Canadian publications, we were alarmed to see yesterday’s statement from Magazines Canada CEO Mark Jamison applauding Minister of Labour Lisa Raitt’s decision to introduce back-to-work legislation to force locked-out Canada Post employees back to work.
No Jail for Jaggi Singh
Submitted on June 21, 2011By CBC News - June 21, 2011
Montreal activist Jaggi Singh won't serve any additional time in jail for urging people to tear down a security fence during last year's G20 summit in Toronto...An Ontario Superior Court judge on Tuesday gave Singh a suspended sentence and 12 months of probation, and ordered him to complete 75 hours of community service.
What's in a Name? Activist or Journalist...Aboard the Tahrir, Does it Matter?
Submitted on June 21, 2011Greetings from Greece, where the American and Canadian activists and journalists of the Freedom Flotilla II intermingle freely between two centrally located hotels. Some have been here for days, even weeks, laying the groundwork, purchasing supplies, undergoing training, getting the lay of the land. Some, like myself and the Toronto contingent, only arrived yesterday.
Site C Would Destroy Prime Farmland, Fuel Fracking & Tar Sands
Submitted on June 21, 2011At a recent event in Vancouver, biologist and Peace Valley Environment Association representative Diane Culling discussed the enormous consequences of the proposed Site C Dam - including the flooding of prime farmland at a time when the province faces major food security challenges.
CKUT radio: Soul Perspectives youth broadcast
Submitted on June 21, 2011tune-in for a special broadcast feat. Montreal youth voices.
Tuesday, June 21, 2011
tune-in 7pm-8:30pm
live broadcast on CKUT Radio, 90.3fm
tune-in globally via live stream at www.ckut.ca
What's in a Name: Activist or journalist, aboard the Tahrir does it matter?
Submitted on June 21, 2011June 21st – Athens, Greece.
Remembering Guru Arjan Dev Ji
Submitted on June 20, 2011The fifth Sikh Guru who sacrificed his life to uphold the values of free speech, equality and freedom of religion. A true champion of Human Rights.
This weekend on June 19th, Sikhs in New Westminster joined millions of others around the world in celebrating the life and teachings of their fifth Guru, Guru Arjan Dev Ji.
Posties deliver ultimatum
Submitted on June 20, 2011NORTH VANCOUVER - RCMP briefly arrested four CUPW postal workers this evening. The four occupied the downtown community office of Conservative MP Andrew Saxton all day (see earlier story) - refusing to leave until the Harper government reverses its decision to invoke back-to-work legislation.
All-White Cast for "The Madison Moment" Forum at Ryerson University
Submitted on June 20, 2011I am calling on to to rectify your exclusion of racialized voices on the subject of public sector bargaining by including speakers from this sector of the North American population. It is high time for this society and actors in the labour movement to seriously address systemic/institutional racism. You have the opportunity to make a contribution to this initiative...just do the right thing.
Greece: Bond Slave to Europe
Submitted on June 20, 2011By Mark Weisbrot - Znet
What makes the Greek public even angrier is that their collective punishment is being meted out by foreign powers...This highlights perhaps the biggest problem of unaccountable, right-wing, supra-national institutions. Greece would not be going through this if it were not a member of a currency union...[The] government officials would be replaced. And then a new government would do what the vast majority of governments in the world did during the world recession of 2009 – the opposite...
Tar Sands Undead Walk Video
Submitted on June 20, 2011Climate Justice London at a Car Free Festival, during Stop Tar Sands Day.
Libyan Atrocities: Do They Really Stand Up?
Submitted on June 20, 2011By PATRICK COCKBURN - June 20, 2011
In war, accounts of atrocities need to be treated with skepticism...[I]n war people, motivated by fear, self-interest or a simple desire to make sense of a confusing and terrifying situation, make things up. And in the midst of a fast-moving conflict it is more than usually difficult to prove them wrong.
The Dominion Editorial Collective endorses the work of journalists aboard the Tahrir and condemns Israel's threats to their freedom to report
Submitted on June 20, 2011Halifax Media Co-op journalist Miles Howe will join about 30 other Canadians on the Canadian Boat to Gaza, named the Tahrir, which will sail as part of the second “Freedom Flotilla." They will challenge Israel’s blockade of Gaza, which has been called a “crime against humanity” by the United Nations Human Rights Council and condemned as illegal by pract
Libya: The Latest Product in Canada's Ugly War Assembly Line
Submitted on June 20, 2011By Murray Dobbin - June 20, 2011
No one refers to this war against Libya as a criminal conspiracy but the term would be perfectly appropriate. And I suppose we should not be surprised that an organization that constantly violates its own mandate can hardly be expected to wince at violating someone else's...NATO...has become a military intervention agency aimed at protecting Western industrial nations -- not from military threat but from an economic one: the threat of higher oil prices and the gradual loss of its dominant access to Middle East oil and gas.
Aftermath of Canucks Riot
Submitted on June 20, 2011By Zig Zag - Vancouver Media Co-op
Psychologically, the uptight citizens appear to feel 'wronged' by the rioters, their reputation reduced by association with the same city as the violent mob. Hence, the assertion that it was a small minority of anarchists and criminals, who aren't real Canucks fans, finds a receptive ear among these loyalist elements of the population. But this sense of ownership and entitlement only reveals their arrogance and self-righteousness, as if they are the only legitimate citizens with a right to represent Vancouver.
Lies, Damn Lies and Liberating Wars
Submitted on June 20, 2011America's imperial wars are for wealth, power, and unchallenged dominance, never for humanitarian concerns or liberation, notions Washington contemptuously spurns.
Office Occupation for Postal Workers
Submitted on June 20, 2011NORTH VANCOUVER - Postal workers and supporters are occupying the community office of Tory MP Andrew Saxton. The action is one of several similar occupations of Conservative MP offices across the country to demand the reversal of back-to-work legislation in the postal dispute.
The activists say more supporters are welcome at the office at Third and Lonsdale.
Aftermath of Canucks Riot
Submitted on June 20, 2011In their haste to demonize the rioters of June 15, authorities have painted them as “anarchists and criminals,” who weren't “real” Canucks fans; a small minority who took advantage of the large crowds to carry out a premeditated campaign of vandalism, arson, and looting.
Postal Workers Occupy Conservative Offices in Vancouver, Edmonton and Winnipeg
Submitted on June 20, 2011By Postal Workers and Community Groups - June 20, 2011
Postal workers and community support groups in Vancouver, Edmonton, and Winnipeg have occupied Conservative Party MP offices today at 10:00am PDT. The occupations are taking place to highlight back to work legislation that the Canadian Union of Postal Workers has characterized as “unnecessary, unjust, and counterproductive.”
Postal Workers Occupy Conservative Offices in Vancouver, Edmonton, Winnipeg
Submitted on June 20, 2011Postal workers and allies occupy Conservative MP offices in support of strike and against back-to-work legislation
Postal workers occupy MPs offices
June 20, 2011
Citizens' Movement: 3000 Strong, March to Halt Shale Gas Development in Montreal
Submitted on June 20, 2011UPDATE: Search for Neskie Manuel - Family Set Up Tip Hotline
Submitted on June 20, 2011June 20, 2011 - Request to Circulate Missing Person Poster
The search for Neskonlith Indian Band Councillor Neskie Manuel continues. In recent weeks, we conducted a side-scan sonar search of Neskonlith Lake led by US experts Gene and Sandy Ralston. We have been able to eliminate high-probability areas of Neskonlith Lake with good probability.
Being an Addict and Working the Streets on Skid Row
Submitted on June 20, 2011“In Our Own Voices,” Week III
When I was about 15 years old I ran away from my parent’s home in Burnaby. My parents were alcoholics and there was a lot of abusive behaviour and yelling in our home.
To Gaza With Love
Submitted on June 20, 2011Despite JDL presence, Toronto contigent arrives safely in Greece
Members of the Canadian Boat to Gaza (CBG) today flew out of Pearson International Airport in Toronto, Ontario. A press conference was organized, and while the press release garnered the attention of several mainstream media outlets, it also gathered some unwanted attention in the form of Meir Weinstein and the Jewish Defence League (JDL).
NATO Bombs Kill Libyan Civilians in Tripoli
Submitted on June 19, 2011By Peter Symonds - WSWS
A NATO air-strike in a working class suburb of Tripoli early on Sunday morning killed and injured a number of civilians. Western journalists...were taken to the site and confirmed seeing at least five bodies, including those of a nine-month-old baby and a child...“There were no indications of any military facility in the area. Children’s shoes, diapers, a woman’s dress and kitchen tools lay amid the wreckage early Sunday.”
Tar Sands Undead Walk
Submitted on June 19, 2011The 'oily' zombies walked to raise awareness about the many impacts from tar sands operations — from Alberta, to Ontario, and beyond. This tar sands sludge is being pumped into Sarnia-Lambton. And, if the Enbridge Trailbreaker project proceeds, very dirty tar sands bitumen would be pumped through a pipeline that already crosses the Thames River, just north of London. In Alberta, toxic tailings ponds have been leaking into the Athabasca river, each and every day. The residents of the area also are threatened by pipeline spills. In one incident this spring, millions of litres of tar sands crude and diluent spilled into the territory of the Lubicon Cree.
Entrapping Innocent Muslims
Submitted on June 19, 2011Persecuting Muslims in America for political advantage.
Austerity, the Conservative Majority and the Canadian Labour Congress Action Plan
Submitted on June 19, 2011By Mathew Nelson - June 17, 2011
...[E]ven in the midst of the largest financial crisis in history, there was an overall lack of discussion at the [Canadian Labour Congress] convention of an anti-capitalist politics and programme. The Workers Program, like the convention itself, failed to raise alternatives to capitalism. The general approach is increasingly embedded in business forms of unionism.
Public Supported Post!
Submitted on June 19, 2011The Halifax public organizes rally to support the locked out postal workers.
On Thursday afternoon, a large group rallied together right outside the Almon Street Canada Post main office in Halifax to support the locked out postal workers. The lockout was declared late Tuesday night by the Canada Post Crown Corporation, after 12 days of rotating strikes.
Tar sands undead walk (part 1)
Submitted on June 19, 2011During a Car Free Festival in London, Ontario
Climate Justice London had a zombie walk with fake oil, for Stop Tar Sands Day.
Rude Mechanical Orchestra Supports Abousfian Abdelrazik
Submitted on June 19, 2011Rude Mechanical Orchestra plays in front of the UN Plaza on June 16th in Support of Abousfian Abdelrazik.
Rassemblement moratoire sur les gaz et pétrole de schiste du 11 juin 2011
Submitted on June 19, 2011How Pharmaceutical Companies Hijacked Our Brains
Submitted on June 18, 2011Friday, June 17 2011 - Infoshop News
The bottom line is: Psycho-pharmaceutical drugs are not safe. They prolong the illnesses they are supposed to treat and cause long-term brain damage...Yet, today, 1 in 8 Americans is on a psychotropic medication, with these dangerous drugs being prescribed to children less than two years old!
"I'm 33 and haven't paid rent ever in my life"
Submitted on June 18, 2011London squatters in Vancouver
"...and it scares me," continued Connie when I asked her about her statement about never having paid rent.
Connie was one of three Londoners that breezed through Vancouver at the beginning of the year as part of their trip through turtle island. She and the other two were part of a crew that had been squatting in London prior to their trip.
Duplicitous Congressional Posturing on Libya
Submitted on June 18, 2011In Washington, hypocrisy and duplicity substitute for resolute action to obey international and constitutional law. In fact, they're mere artifacts long ago discarded to advance America's imperium.
Ranting on the Riot
Submitted on June 18, 2011By Macdonald - Media Co-op
I had been thinking to myself how to express what I have to say about the “(anti)hockey riot” last night in Vancouver. It's not like I'm opposed to riots. If people rise up against oppression, systematic racism, the destruction of social housing...that is both justifiable and an act of self actualization in the face of power. But the pointlessness...of what happened last night did not bother me as a Vancouverite. It bothered me as a Canucks fan.
Canadian Unions Move to Suppress Strikes and Impose Concessions
Submitted on June 18, 2011By Keith Jones - 18 June 2011
Bowing before the Conservative government, the trade unions and trade union-supported New Democratic Party (NDP) have moved to shut down two national anti-concession strikes involving more than 50,000 workers...[T]he unions and NDP have lurched massively to the right and integrated themselves ever more with big business. While the unions serve as secondary enforcers for management, imposing concessions and suppressing strikes, the NDP has helped dismantle the social welfare programs it once held up as proof capitalism could be reformed.
Mohawk Communities "Drug Raid" Exposes Police Control
Submitted on June 18, 2011Just over a week after a report was released...on how the Harper government has been using INAC to “manage potential First Nation unrest” since 2006, a native community named as a “hot spot” for “aboriginal unrest” was raided by no less than 500 members of the “Aboriginal Combined Forces Special Enforcement Unit. The day before the raid, the Mohawks of Kanehsata:ke sent a warning letter to the municipality of Oka over a mining deal signed earlier in the month...Coincidence? Not in these times.
NDP to Debate Removing 'Socialist' Label from Party Preamble
Submitted on June 18, 2011CBC News - June 18, 2011
[New Democratic Party] [d]elegates will consider a proposed new preamble to the party constitution that would remove reference to the NDP as a "socialist" party, in an apparent bid to capitalize on the New Democrats' stunning performance in last month's election.
Halifax Workers Locked Out (CUPW) & On Strike (CAW)
Submitted on June 18, 2011Members of the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) are locked out at Canada Post, and members of Canadian Auto Workers (CAW) are on strike against Air Canada and picketing at the Halifax Stanfield Airport and other airports across the country.
We Support Our Postal Workers
Submitted on June 18, 2011I arrived late at Thursday's community rally to support postal workers, but the sun was out and fifty or so people milled about, some wearing Locked Out! CUPW Nova Local placards, some dancing or eating; a dj spun beats and two jugglers entertained.
ALERT: Kenney Reintroduces Human Smuggling Bill
Submitted on June 17, 2011June 17th, 2011 - No One Is Illegal-Vancouver
Public Safety Minister Vic Toews and Minister of Censorship and Deportation Jason Kenney have announced that they are re-introducing Human Smuggling Bill C4 (previously Bill C49). This is despite the previous Bill C49 being rejected by all opposition parties and hundreds of community, legal, health, human rights, and migrant justice groups...It is imperative that people are aware of the implications of this bill, and organize to defeat it!
War on Drugs turns 40
Submitted on June 17, 2011DOWNTOWN EASTSIDE - Members of the Vancouver Area Network of Drug Users (VANDU) marked the 40th anniversary of the so-called War on Drugs today with a call for sensible drug policies.
Medical Care in Gaza Under Siege
Submitted on June 17, 2011Under siege, Israel continues to strangle Gaza.
Vancouver Police Chief, Media Commentators Blame 'Anarchists' for Stanley Cup Riot
Submitted on June 17, 2011By David P Ball - June 16, 2011
VANCOUVER - Activists are outraged after Vancouver Police Chief Jim Chu accused 'anarchists' of orchestrating the Stanley Cup riots last night...Chu's statement follows one media commentator's allegation that, "These are people that we've seen in the past associated with the Black Bloc so-called anarchist group that targeted the Bay one year ago during the Olympic Games.["]
Nicole Kish: Convicted by the Media, Sentenced by the Courts
Submitted on June 17, 2011By Eugene Ochs - June 17, 2011
Kish was convicted of second-degree murder on March 1, 2011, and sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole for 12 years. An activist, artist and a singer-songwriter with no criminal record, Kish has maintained her innocence since the 2007 death of Ross Hammond...Friends and supporters of Kish argue the media storm around the so-called "panhandler killer" was partially responsible for her unfair trial and wrongful conviction, and they are fighting for her release.
Preston Manning, Neo-Liberalism and the Vancouver Riots
Submitted on June 17, 2011By Murray Dobbin - June 17, 2011
It seems to me that one of the broad reasons [for the riot] is the systematic attack on government and indirectly on community. The pillars of neo-liberalism and globalization all attack community: privatization, starving government through tax cuts, deregulation...the slashing of social programs and the commercialization of everything...We are defined and self-defined [by] what we have, not by what we stand for or believe or care about.
Prominent American Academic Barred from Entering Canada
Submitted on June 17, 2011By Ontario Confederation of University Faculty Associations - June 15, 2011
TORONTO - Prominent American academic Bill Ayers has again been prevented from entering Canada, an outcome that should raise red flags for citizens concerned with free and open debate. Ayers was scheduled to deliver a keynote address at today's Worldview Conference on Media and Higher Education in Toronto on June 16, 2011.
The Return of the U.S. "Enemies List"
Submitted on June 17, 2011By Bill Van Auken - WSWS
The attempt by the Bush White House to use the Central Intelligence Agency to uncover incriminating information on University of Michigan professor Juan Cole is one more indication of Washington’s increasing turn to police state methods...“What alarms me most...is that I know I am a relatively small fish and it seems to me rather likely that I was not the only target of the baleful team at the White House.”
De-listing Caravan Seeks Justice for Abdelrazik at the UN
Submitted on June 17, 2011Montreal activists travel to New York to abolish the UN 1267 blacklist
A seven-person delegation of labour activists, religious community activists, indymedia journalists, and migrant justice organizers from Montreal joined Project Fly Home on a caravan to the United Nations in New York City today.
Rude Mechanical Orchestra playing for Abdelrazik in NYC
Submitted on June 17, 2011Radical marching bands joins the speak out against the 1267 list at the UN gates
Audio of the Rude Mechanical Orchestra radical marching band playing at the speak-out for Abousfian Abdelrazik against the racist UN 1267 list at the gates of the UN in New York City.
Selling Depression
Submitted on June 17, 2011By MARTHA ROSENBERG - Counterpunch Weekend Edition
...[T]hree things dried up the depression gravy train for the drug industry. Blockbusters went off patent and generics took off, anti-depressants were linked with gory and unpredictable violence...and -- they didn't even work, according to medical articles...That's when the drug industry began debuting the concept of "treatment resistant depression." It wasn't that their drugs didn't work...Your first expensive and dangerous drug needed to be coupled with more expensive and dangerous drugs because...one drug alone wasn't doing the trick!
The Foster Home System Damaged Me
Submitted on June 17, 2011“In Our Own Voices,” Week II
I was born in 1957 and in my early years I lived in a cabin with my mother and six siblings in Quesnel B.C. When I was eight years old, our mother took off and left us alone for three days. My younger siblings had no diapers and we were eating dry oatmeal.
Abousfian Abdelrazik's Statement to the UN 1267 Committee
Submitted on June 17, 2011Abousfian Abdelrazik delivers a message to the UN 1267 list committee about the hardships he endures daily.
Abousfian Abdelrazik Speaks at Montreal Press Conference June 15th
Submitted on June 17, 2011Abousfian Abdelrazik shares some thoughts on being listed on the UN 1267 blacklist.
Project Flyhome Delegates Discuss Meeting With UN German Mission Concerning Abousfian Abdelrazik's Status on the 1267 List
Submitted on June 17, 2011Karl Flecker and Sameer Zuberi discuss Abusfian Abdelrazik's case and the Project Flyhome meeting with the German UN Mission regarding the 1267 List.
Remembering Oscar Grant on the Release Day of the Cop Who Killed Him
Submitted on June 16, 2011By Julianne Hing - AlterNet
Johannes Mehserle, the former BART police officer who killed Oscar Grant on New Year’s Day in 2009, has been released from jail. He received a two-year prison sentence but was released just after midnight on Monday morning...“So many people have died at the hands of the police and all they have to do is say, ‘Oh, I think they were armed,’...and the police get away with it...It’s the thing for the cops to say and they know they can get off. It’s painting the message that a badge is a license to kill.”
Who's Really Responsible?
Submitted on June 16, 2011By Sharon Fraser - rabble.ca
The left is often accused of "blaming" media when things go wrong. This time, the blame is well-placed...Meanwhile, media analysts will come up with many theories involving hooligans and anarchists and left-wing pinkos and loonies. They'll never once think to look in the mirror.
Conservative Government to Criminalize Canadian Postal Workers' Anti-Concessions Strike
Submitted on June 16, 2011By Carl Bronski and Keith Jones - WSWS
The Conservative government lost no time in using the lockout as a pretext to directly intervene in the dispute at Canada Post — a dispute that has been provoked by the post office’s demands for sweeping contract concessions...On Tuesday afternoon, the government announced that before the day was out it would formally initiate the 48-hour process to introduce an emergency back-to-work law, illegalizing all job action by postal workers and suspending their collective bargaining rights.
Delisting Caravan for Abousfian Abdelrazik
Submitted on June 16, 2011Montreal press conference discusses the UN 1267 list
Audio from the Montreal press conference of the Delisting Caravan for Abousfian Abdelrazik. June 15, 2011.
For more info, visit:
Understanding Vancouver's "Hockey Riot"
Submitted on June 16, 2011By Dave Zirin - June 16, 2011
"While I too wish people were motivated by social justice issues, the hockey game is NOT apolitical by any means. The riots were a fundamentalist defense of a type of nationalism, most evident in the beatings of Bruins fans in Vancouver last night. NHL hockey is not simply a game, it is representative of obedience to consumerism and is part of the state's attempt to forge a false identity — despite vast differences and inequalities across race, class, and gender, through the spectacle of sport."
- Vancouver Activist and Organizer Harsha Walia
Vancouver Police Chief, media commentators blame 'anarchists' for Stanley Cup riot
Submitted on June 16, 2011VANCOUVER - Activists are outraged after Vancouver Police Chief Jim Chu accused 'anarchists' of orchestrating the Stanley Cup riots last night.
Many tens of thousands of people faced off against riot police, tear gas, horses and K9 units in downtown Vancouver after the Canucks lost the Stanley Cup final to the Boston Bruins 4-0.
Canucks Fans Celebrate Loss by Burning Cars, Looting
Submitted on June 16, 2011By Zig Zag - Vancouver Media Co-op
Undoubtedly, Vancouver police, government officials, and upright citizens will be condemning the riot for many weeks and months to come. Autopsies will be conducted on both the Canucks loss as well as that of the police, with conspiracy theorists chiming in that it was all part of a sinister plot by the government. Yet, in the end, we are reminded once again that no matter what level authorities go to in their efforts to maintain social control, they can't stop the chaos.
More on Pilger Censorship: "I Have Never Known Anything Like This"
Submitted on June 16, 2011By John Pilger - Znet
I don't know why Patrick Lannan acted the way he did. At the very least, he has demonstrated that his wealth and power give him the capricious license to do what he wants to do when and how he wants to do it and without explanation, regardless of the consequences...Over 40 years an an investigative journalist and film-maker, I have faced similar action in its various guises, and it reveals itself whenever it happens. This is crude censorship however inexplicable and regardless of reputation and patronage.
Riot On 2011!
Submitted on June 16, 2011Canucks Fans Celebrate Loss by Burning Cars, Looting
For weeks leading up to the final Game 7 of the 2011 Stanley Cup Finals, Vancouver police and city officials asserted we had 'matured' as a city since the 1994 hockey riot. There would be no repeat of the mayhem that followed the Canucks loss in game 7 to the New York Rangers that year, the last time the team made the finals.
U.S.-Occupied Afghanistan 'Most Dangerous Place for Women'
Submitted on June 16, 2011Wednesday, June 15, 2011 - Al-Jazeera
Afghanistan has been ranked as the world's most dangerous country for women...Violence, dismal health-care and brutal poverty afflicts women in Afghanistan..."Ongoing conflict, NATO air-strikes and cultural practices combined make Afghanistan a very dangerous place for women..."
Seeking equipment, contacts for Media Co-op journalist on Boat to Gaza
Submitted on June 16, 2011Halifax Media Co-op journalist Miles Howe will join about 30 other Canadians on the Canada Boat to Gaza later this month.
Wisconsin Supreme Court Reinstates Anti-Union Law
Submitted on June 15, 2011Wisconsin's union-busting law is reinstated.
Don’t Frack Around London, Ontario
Submitted on June 15, 2011We are calling for a ban on shale gas fracking in the municipality of London, Ontario. Since this London ban would not protect either the city's Great Lakes water supplies, or the farmlands around our region, we also are calling on the municipal government to support a province-wide ban on shale gas fracking.
UK Private University is Odious
Submitted on June 15, 2011By Terry Eagleton - June 15, 2011
British universities...are not best served by a bunch of prima donnas jumping ship and creaming off the bright and loaded. It is as though a group of medics in a hard-pressed public hospital were to down scalpels and slink off to start a lucrative private clinic.
Solitary Watch Confronts Torture in U.S. Prisons: An Interview with James Ridgeway and Jean Casella
Submitted on June 15, 2011While spotlighting the Solitary Watch website, this new interview also focuses on the upcoming hunger strike at the Pelican Bay supermax prison in California (it begins on July 1), and Hugo Pinell, of the San Quentin Six, who has been in continuous solitary even longer than the Angola 3.
Over 100 Million Children in Dangerous Jobs
Submitted on June 15, 2011By Robert Evans - June 15, 2011
Over 115 million of the world's children and young teenagers, or more than 7 percent of the total, are engaged in dangerous and life-threatening jobs, the International Labour Organization (ILO) said on Friday...[A] U.N. investigator said child labour was in great demand by employers because it was cheap "and because children are naturally more docile, easier to discipline than adults, and too frightened to complain."
Dawn of a New Gay, Or Drawn Out Old Story?
Submitted on June 15, 2011Rich white gay man tells city that oppression is over
By now, most people who are part of a queer community in Toronto are familiar with the debacle of the front page article published by Toronto newspaper The Grid on June 9th.
The Other New Gays Talk Back
Submitted on June 15, 2011Interviews from "Dawn of a New Gay, or Drawn Out Old Story?"
Below are the transcripts from the interviews used in the article "Dawn of A New Gay, Or Drawn Out Old Story?"
ELIE:
What was your reaction to the article, “Dawn of a New Gay”?
Fifth radio segment of the Montreal Media Co-op/Quatrième segment radiophonique de la Coop média de Montréal
Submitted on June 15, 2011Tuesday, June 14 on CKUT's Off the Hour
News Briefs: a week in protest
- Montrealers cry police brutality in face of recent shootings
- Saint-Henri residents protest the growing gentrification of their neighborhood
- Formula 1 is denounced for supporting a car-dependent society
Feature
La marche pour une moratoire d'une génération arrives in Montreal
Nova Scotia Trade Mission to Gaza Launched
Submitted on June 15, 2011Business community sends local goods aboard the Canadian Boat to Gaza
Miles Howe is not your usual businessman, and he is about to embark on a very unusual trade mission.
2010 State Department Human Rights Report on Bahrain
Submitted on June 15, 2011America supports brutal Bahraini terror state.
Toronto Moves to Sell-Off Community Housing
Submitted on June 15, 201106/14/2011 - Ontario Coalition Against Poverty
The Ford Regime in City Hall is moving to step up its attacks on poor and working people at top speed. One key part of this is the attack on the people who live in Toronto Community Housing (TCH)...This comes at a time when the need for affordable and accessible housing is greater than ever. Over 70 000 households in the City of Toronto are on the waiting list for TCH...
Thousands Say They Will Join Fuckwalk in Australia
Submitted on June 15, 2011By Selena Black - Green Left Weekly
The [government of the] Victorian [state of Australia]...has proposed a new law that will allow police to give on-the-spot fines for “indecent, offensive or disorderly language”...In response, a protest has been organised...By June 11, more than 10,000 people had said on the event's Facebook page that they would attend the “Fuckwalk”.
"Cruel as a Tiger": Greeks Strike, Clash with Police Over Austerity
Submitted on June 15, 2011By Renee Maltezou and Ingrid Melander - Wednesday, June 15, 2011
Stone-throwing Greeks clashed with police and tens of thousands of protesters marched on parliament on Wednesday to oppose government efforts to pass new austerity measures for the debt-stricken euro zone state...Unions representing half the five-million-strong workforce also launched a nationwide strike, shutting ports, schools and other basic services in the Mediterranean state.
"Students for Posties"
Submitted on June 15, 2011Montreal student groups rallying behind Canada's postal workers
As Canadians woke up to Canada Post's lock-out of the country's postal workers this morning, students across Montreal are rallying to postal workers' sides.
Voices of the Women in Radio Conference (Part 4 of 4)
Submitted on June 14, 2011Interview with Sylvia Richardson
From June 6-10, 2011, community radio broadcasters of all sorts gathered in Halifax, Nova Scotia for the annual National Campus/Community Radio Conference (NCRC). As in previous years, a full day of the conference was devoted to the Women in Radio conference, looking at the contributions of women in the sector, and also strategizing to bring down patriarchy on and off the airwaves.
Voices of the Women in Radio Conference (Part 3 of 4)
Submitted on June 14, 2011Interview with Frieda Werden
From June 6-10, 2011, community radio broadcasters of all sorts gathered in Halifax, Nova Scotia for the annual National Campus/Community Radio Conference (NCRC). As in previous years, a full day of the conference was devoted to the Women in Radio conference, looking at the contributions of women in the sector, and also strategizing to bring down patriarchy on and off the airwaves.
Voices of the Women in Radio Conference (Part 2 of 4)
Submitted on June 14, 2011Interview with Laura Yaros
From June 6-10, 2011, community radio broadcasters of all sorts gathered in Halifax, Nova Scotia for the annual National Campus/Community Radio Conference (NCRC). As in previous years, a full day of the conference was devoted to the Women in Radio conference, looking at the contributions of women in the sector, and also strategizing to bring down patriarchy on and off the airwaves.
Voices of the Women in Radio Conference (Part 1 of 4)
Submitted on June 14, 2011Interview with Gunargie O'Sullivan
From June 6-10, 2011, community radio broadcasters of all sorts gathered in Halifax, Nova Scotia for the annual National Campus/Community Radio Conference (NCRC). As in previous years, a full day of the conference was devoted to the Women in Radio conference, looking at the contributions of women in the sector, and also strategizing to bring down patriarchy on and off the airwaves.
No Justice in Kafka’s America
Submitted on June 14, 2011By Chris Hedges - June 12, 2011
The draconian legal mechanisms that condemn Muslim Americans who speak out publicly about the outrages we commit in the Middle East have left many...wasting away in supermax prisons. These citizens posed no security threat. But they dared to speak a truth about the sordid conduct of our nation that the state found unpalatable. And in the bipartisan war on terror, waged by Republicans and Democrats, this ugly truth in America is branded seditious.
Why I Am Joining the New Flotilla to Gaza
Submitted on June 14, 2011By Kevin Neish - rabble.ca
"For heaven's sake, why are you going back on another flotilla to Gaza!!" I've heard this comment/question repeatedly since I returned from an Israeli prison after the attack on my ship, the Mavi Marmara, in May 2010. In a nutshell, I'm returning because the illegal blockade of Gaza is still in place. The job is not done.
Syrian Crackdown Deepens as Fighting Threatens to Spread
Submitted on June 14, 2011By Jean Shaoul - WSWS
The brutal crackdown being waged by Bashar al-Assad’s Ba’athist regime against protests in Syria has caused an estimated 10,000 Syrians to flee...into Turkey...Damascus has poured troops, tanks and weaponry into Syria’s northern provinces...It has used helicopter gunships against Maarat al-Numan, after thousands of protesters overwhelmed security officers and burned the courthouse and police station.
Remote Control Killing Like Sport
Submitted on June 14, 2011It's America's newest sport. From distant command centers, far from target sights, sounds, and smells, operators dismissively ignore human carnage showing up as computer screen blips little different from video game images. The difference, of course, is people die, mostly noncombatants.
What's the Difference Between a Comb-Over and Shaved Balls?
Submitted on June 14, 2011This is a before-and-after story endemic to politics everywhere. Self-aggrandizing, rich assholes hide their true motives to get elected. Once they're elected they fiddle while Rome burns.
Bahrain: A Pack of Lies
Submitted on June 14, 2011By Robert Fisk - Znet
Yesterday, the Bahraini royal family started an utterly fraudulent trial of 48 surgeons, doctors, paramedics and nurses, accusing them of trying to topple the tin-pot monarchy of this Sunni minority emirate. The defendants in this flagrantly unfair military court are, of course, members of the majority Shia people of Bahrain. And since I was a witness to their heroic efforts to save lives in February, I can say...that the charges are a pack of lies.
Secret U.S. and Afghanistan Talks Could See Troops Stay for Decades
Submitted on June 13, 2011By Jason Burke in Kabul - Monday 13 June 2011
American and Afghan officials are locked in increasingly acrimonious secret talks about a long-term security agreement which is likely to see US troops, spies and air power based in the troubled country for decades...Though not publicized, negotiations have been under way for more than a month to secure a strategic partnership agreement which would include an American presence beyond the end of 2014...
Balaclava! VMC Broadsheet Issue 31
Submitted on June 13, 2011Greek Government Announces New Cuts Amid Mass Opposition
Submitted on June 13, 2011By Stefan Steinberg and Alex Lantier - 13 June 2011
The privatizations and the cuts — a combination of property and consumption tax increases and cuts in public spending and social services — entail forcing the working class in Greece to submit to a naked dictatorship of Greek and international capital. They amount to an unprecedented transfer of social wealth into the hands of the financial aristocracy.
Ninety Percent of Captured "Taliban" Were Civilians
Submitted on June 13, 2011By Gareth Porter - June 13th, 2011
The deliberate confusion sowed by [U.S. Afghanistan commander General David] Petraeus by referring to anyone picked up for interrogation as a captured rank and file Taliban was a key element of a carefully considered strategy for creating a more favourable image of the war...The deceptive nature of those statistics...raises anew the question of whether the statistics released by Petraeus on killing of alleged Taliban were similarly skewed.
Mountaintop Removal: Environmental and Human Destruction for Profit
Submitted on June 13, 2011Destroying planet earth for profit.
Threatening Ideologies
Submitted on June 13, 2011This info-graphic explores one of many G20 intelligence Documents that have been released under the Access to Information Act. I have also written an in-depth investigative article on undercover police infiltrators, which relies in part on other elements of this document.
My Story of Domestic Violence and Child Apprehension
Submitted on June 13, 2011“In Our Own Voices,” Week II
I was abused by my ex partner, who is also my children’s father, for ten and a half years. I had four children with him - Angela, Rosalie, Mike, and Jackson. I was beat all throughout my first pregnancy, and as a result my girl Angela was born a month early. She did not develop properly and was born with her heart on the right side of her body.
A march toward a new chapter in Quebec environmentalism
Submitted on June 13, 2011As La marche pour une moratoire d'une génération arrives in Montreal, we reflect on what 2011 has meant for the Quebec environmental movement
“Building a new movement doesn’t come without ruffling some feathers,” says Philippe Duhamel, the spokesperson for La marche pour une moratoire d’une génération. He has already walked more than half of the 637 kilometres from Rimouski to Montreal in protest against the shale gas industry.
Protesting the Coming Right-Wing Storm at the Conservative Party Conference
Submitted on June 12, 2011By Marco Vigliotti - rabble.ca
"This bullshit assembly behind us of rich fuckers are in there right now to plan attacks against our communities...They can make all the fucking plans they want because we will be there to fight them every step of the way."
The Tipping Point #1 Project Fly Home
Submitted on June 12, 2011Creating momentum, creating victories.
The Tipping Point is a new column which focuses on a particular political campaign happening within Canada in hopes of inspiring support, giving it the momentum to become a tangible win.
Tinpot Bombardiers
Submitted on June 12, 2011By ALEXANDER COCKBURN - June 10-12, 2011
A hundred years down the road the UN/NATO Libyan intervention will be seen as an old-fashioned colonial smash-and-grab affair. There may even be a paragraph or two about the collapse of the U.S. left, in mounting any powerful show of protest.
Gaza: A View from the Ground (A South African Perspective)
Submitted on June 12, 2011By Patrick Bond - June 8, 2011
Here in Palestine, disgust expressed by civil society reformers about Barack Obama's May 19 policy speech on the Middle East and North Africa confirms that political reconciliation between Washington and fast-rising Arab democrats is impossible...“If anything, the U.S. has played a very negative role. The best thing Obama can do for the region is leave it alone. We've seen U.S. democracy-building in Afghanistan and Iraq, so no thank you.”
After Brutal Police Shooting, Miami Cops Attempted to Destroy Video Evidence
Submitted on June 12, 2011By Michael Stapleton - 11 June 2011
Police in Miami Beach, Florida attempted to cover-up evidence of a brutal police shooting of an apparently unarmed man on May 30. An eyewitness captured the killing on video, then had his cellphone seized and smashed...The victim of the shooting was 22-year old Raymond Herisse. At least nine officers opened fire on Herisse in a hail of bullets, injuring four bystanders in the process. Eyewitnesses say that Herisse never fired back.
Obama's Slipping Popularity
Submitted on June 12, 2011Expect Obama's popularity to sink even lower.
Rise up against the Tories! Anti-Harper Anti-Con Rally in Ottawa June 10 (full vid)
Submitted on June 12, 2011Hundreds march in Ottawa to oppose the Conservative Party national convention and Prime Minister Harper's keynote speech, his first major address since gaining a majority government.
The call to rally was to "make clear to the Conservative Party that we will not sit idly by while they attack our communities."
Harper Dégage! Beat Back the Tory Attack!
Washington’s Endless Wars
Submitted on June 11, 2011By Bill Van Auken - 11 June 2011
US military forces are now waging simultaneous drone missile attacks, bombings, special forces assassination raids and ground combat in five separate countries: Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Libya and Yemen...[T]he attempt by the American ruling elite to use militarism to offset the decline in US capitalism’s global economic position generates increasingly dangerous international tensions and the threat of far bloodier wars to come.
Campus Co-op Turns 75
Submitted on June 11, 2011Student Housing Co-op Celebrates 75 Years of Cooperative Living
Tucked away in the Toronto's Annex district lie close to 30 houses which make up the oldest and one of the most interesting housing cooperatives in Toronto.
John Pilger Film and U.S. Visit Banned
Submitted on June 11, 2011By John Pilger - Znet
There is a compelling symbol of our extraordinary times in all of this. A rich and powerful individual and organisation, espousing freedom of speech, has moved ruthlessly and unaccountably to crush it.
Syria Slides Toward Civil War
Submitted on June 11, 2011By Barry Grey - 11 June 2011
Amid continuing protests, mounting state repression and escalating pressure from the US and the European powers, there are growing signs that Syria is sliding toward civil war. Already, with thousands of refugees flowing from northwestern Syria into Turkey and threats of Israeli intervention, the crisis of the Baathist regime is having an increasingly destabilizing impact on the entire Middle East.
Louisiana Civil Rights Activist Sentenced to Fifteen Years in Prison
Submitted on June 11, 2011By Jordan Flaherty - June 11th, 2011
On June 1...civil rights activist Catrina Wallace was sentenced to fifteen years in prison. This was a first arrest for Wallace, a single mother who became politically active when her brother was arrested in the case that later became known as the “Jena Six.” Wallace was part of a small group of family members and friends who built a movement that eventually brought 50,000 people to a September 2007 march in the small northern Louisiana town of Jena. The mass movement eventually led to freedom for the six young men...
Pro-Choicers Loud and Proud
Submitted on June 11, 2011Pro-choicers respond to the pro-life demonstrations in Sudbury
Pro-choicers faced off against pro-lifers last week in front of Laurentian Hospital on Paris St in Sudbury.
The pro-lifers have been holding signs at the spot, proclaiming that “God’s Choice is Life” and “Life Begins at Conception.”
Balaclava! VMC Broadsheet, issue 31
Submitted on June 11, 2011News and views from around Vancouver
The June issue explores anti-mining week, gentrification across the city including the Downtown East Side and introduces a roundup from Spartacus Books on new readings.
Click here for a PDF of the 31st Balaclava!
Files attached to this post:
Mental Health and Police Violence
Submitted on June 11, 2011By Shurli Chan - Vancouver Media Co-op
"Eventually, another police car drove up and five police officers proceeded to the trunk. What emerged from the trunk were two rifles and a two-person SWAT team also stepped out of the car...That was how they were going to deal with a person wanting to jump off a building! That single incident exposed the attitude of the police towards anyone that they deem mentally unbalanced...I understand why the people in the [Downtown Eastside] do not trust the police."
Moyens de pression des pharmaciens
Submitted on June 11, 2011Inacceptable prise en otage des plus démunis
Une liste de signataires (mise-à-jour le 20 février, 2011) se trouve à la fin de ce texte.
Le 4 février, 2011 -- Le récent conflit entre l'Association Québécoise des Pharmaciens Propriétaires
The Right of All to Healthcare
Submitted on June 11, 2011Citizenship and Immigration Canada implicated in denying meds to Quebec refugee claimants
A list of signatories to this op-ed (updated as of February 20, 2011) are found at the end of this text.
The Obama Doctrine: Lawless Imperial Aggression (Part II)
Submitted on June 11, 2011Obama's out-of-control lawlessness.
Palestinian Divisions on Statehood
Submitted on June 10, 2011Palestinian political factions differ on statehood.
Letter to L'nu
Submitted on June 10, 2011A letter written for publication with the Halifax Media Co-op by Troy J. Gould (Thunderbird heart), a L'nu from We'koqmaq, Cape Breton, father of four boys and one girl. Troy turned down a professional fighting career in boxing for a simpler way of life, providing to his family through fishing, hunting, gardening and harvesting wild foods.
Back Home They Wouldn't Dare: Europeans Trashing American Workers
Submitted on June 10, 2011By DAVID MACARAY - June 10-12, 2011
European companies that wouldn’t dream of pulling similar stunts in their home countries have found they can treat American workers as shabbily as American companies treat Third World workers, yet never have to worry about any public relations backlash...As conservative as the European Right can be, you don’t hear right-wing politicians publicly advocating the actual elimination of labor unions and the abolition of the federal minimum wage. Even the European Right would view such extreme positions as nutty.
Mental Health and Police Violence
Submitted on June 10, 2011“In Our Own Voices,” Week I
The heart of the Downtown Eastside (DTES) is home to survivors of the war on terror: the terror of poverty, physical and spiritual abuse, child apprehension, addictions, and residential schools - all of which quietly destroy the human spirit. Yet in spite of its image as the poorest urban postal code in the country, the DTES has the highest number of art galleries per capita in the country.
The Obama Doctrine: Lawless Imperial Aggression
Submitted on June 10, 2011On March 29, eight New York Times contributors asked "Is There an Obama Doctrine," preceded by an introduction saying his previous day America's role in Libya speech asserted unilateral authority to intervene abroad "when our interests and values are at stake," an illegal position under international and constitutional law.
Not Taking No For an Answer: Kevin Neish, The Mavi and the Freedom Flotilla...Take II
Submitted on June 10, 2011By Miles Howe - June 9, 2011
“Harper and his gang are a throwback to the race days of apartheid, and Jim Crow laws. They're going to order their citizens what to do...We're in a situation where we really have to count on people to act on their own instincts, on their own moral beliefs, and not try and follow the line of the main media, and the government.”
Portugal and the Collapse of European Social Democracy
Submitted on June 10, 2011By Chris Marsden - WSWS
...[T]he collapse in support for the social democratic parties was prepared over years by their previous abandonment of any connection with their reformist past and transformation into overt parties of big business. What the end of the speculative boom and the 2008 collapse revealed was the full extent of this political rot and its implications for working people...Masses of workers have repudiated their past political allegiance to the social democratic parties because they are viewed...as no different in essence from the traditional right-wing parties of big business.
Kevin Neish as Canadian Participant on Freedom Flotilla II
Submitted on June 10, 2011Kevin intends to return to the Gaza Freedom Flotilla aboard the Mavi Marmara
Kevin Neish, one of the few Canadian participants in the first Gaza Freedom Flotilla, and survivor of the Israeli commando raid on the Turkish aid vessel Mavi Marmara, speaks of his intent to be aboard the Mavi Marmara once again for the second Gaza Freedom Flotilla.
Massachusetts Republican Says Undocumented Rape Victims 'Should be Afraid to Come Forward'
Submitted on June 9, 2011By Marie Diamond - June 9, 2011
Massachusetts [Republican] state Rep. Ryan Fattman has such contempt for illegal immigrants that he believes undocumented women who are raped should be afraid to go to the police...“My thought is that if someone is here illegally, they should be afraid to come forward...If you do it the right way, you don’t have to be concerned about these things...”
NATO’s Terror Bombing of Libya
Submitted on June 9, 2011By Bill Van Auken - 9 June 2011
Warplanes struck the Libyan capital 62 times between Tuesday and early Wednesday morning. The daylight air strikes underscored that Libya, its air force and air defense system devastated by earlier attacks, remains virtually defenseless in the face of the US-NATO blitzkrieg...At least 31 people were killed and dozens wounded. The bombings have demolished civilian government buildings, while damaging homes, hospitals and schools. Their intended collateral effect is to terrorize Tripoli’s population of 1.7 million.
The Untold Story of the Deal That Shocked the Middle East
Submitted on June 9, 2011By Robert Fisk - Tuesday, 7 June 2011
Secret meetings between Palestinian intermediaries, Egyptian intelligence officials, the Turkish foreign minister, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal...brought about the Palestinian unity which has so disturbed both Israelis and the American government. Fatah and Hamas ended four years of conflict in May with an agreement that is crucial to the Palestinian demand for a state.
Not Taking No For an Answer. Kevin Neish, The Mavi, and the Freedom Flotilla...Take II
Submitted on June 9, 2011It has been just over a year since Kevin Neish bore witness to the Israeli Defence Force-orchestrated massacre of nine activists aboard the Turkish ship MV Mavi Marmara, events that shocked the world, and brought an end to last year's Freedom Flotilla and its attempt to deliver humanitarian aid to Gaza.
Ethnicize this shit
Submitted on June 9, 2011"Rogue Page" Brigitte DePape's act of civil disobedience recast into public consciousness the election blues of the left.
Sea Change with Art and Music
Submitted on June 9, 2011Youth getting creative at the SPOT
Every Monday and Thursday evening until June 24th, The SPOT is hosting Sea Change, a creative program for Haligonians wanting to get inspired through art and music.
IMF Financial Terrorism
Submitted on June 9, 2011The IMF was created to stabilize exchange rates linked to the dollar and bridge temporary payment imbalances. On a grander scale today, the scheme destructively obligates indebted nations to take new loans to service old ones, assuring rising indebtedness and structural adjustment harshness.
Why Civilians Are Killed in Afghanistan
Submitted on June 9, 2011By James Petras - June 9th, 2011
The killing of civilians is a result of a war of imperial conquest against an entire people who resist the occupation in whatever form is appropriate to their circumstance. The pilots and ground troops recognize that they are a hostile alien force, whose presence is commanded from above by Generals and politicians dealing with abstract schemes of ‘terrorists-linked to Al Qaeda’ that have no relation to the dense web of personal bonds of solidarity between resistance fighters and civilians on the ground in Afghanistan.
Canada to Expand Its Role In Imperialist Assault on Libya
Submitted on June 8, 2011By Keith Jones - WSWS
Canada’s Conservative government has announced that the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) will continue to play a leading role in the imperialist assault on Libya well beyond the middle of this month...In March, all four parties in Canada’s parliament, as well as the Green Party...supported a government motion authorizing the CAF to deploy its forces against the oil-rich North African country for the next 90 days.
Fresh Attacks on WikiLeaks, Bradley Manning
Submitted on June 8, 2011By Ash Pemberton - Sunday, June 5, 2011
The reasons for the crackdown are clear — the Obama administration, like other corporate-backed governments, fears the public learning the full nature of its activities...WikiLeaks has been the biggest publisher of this kind of information in recent history, making the US government's need to persecute and intimidate those involved all the more urgent.
U.S. Inmates' 40 Years in Solitary Must End: Amnesty International [Video]
Submitted on June 8, 2011Tuesday, June 7, 2011 - Common Dreams
LONDON — Two US prisoners who have been held in solitary confinement for nearly 40 years should have their isolation ended immediately, Amnesty International said Tuesday...Albert Woodfox, 64, and Herman Wallace, 69, have been held in solitary at Louisiana State Penitentiary ever since they were convicted of murdering a prison guard in 1972, the London-based human rights group said.
U.S.-Canada Perimeter Security and an Integrated North American Command
Submitted on June 8, 2011By Dana Gabriel
The end results of a fully integrated continental security perimeter could sacrifice what is left of Canadian sovereignty and independence. This could bring its military, security and foreign policy under the umbrella of a single, U.S.-dominated North American Command.
Residential Schools and My Journey to the Downtown Eastside
Submitted on June 8, 2011“In Our Own Voices,” Week I
I was 6 years old when I was taken away from my parents and grandparents in Ahousat BC and forced into a residential school. The Department of Indian Affairs came to our reserve every year in the 1950’s, taking Native children away and placing them in residential schools to learn the White way of life.
First Nations Under Surveillance: Harper Government Prepares for First Nations “Unrest"
Submitted on June 8, 2011By Russell Diabo and Shiri Pasternak - June 7, 2011
Internal documents from Indian Affairs and the RCMP show that shortly after forming government in January of 2006, Prime Minister Stephen Harper had the federal government tighten up on gathering and sharing intelligence on First Nations to anticipate and manage potential First Nation unrest across Canada...[T]he Department of Indian and Northern Affairs...was given the lead role to spy on First Nations. The goal was to identify the First Nation leaders, participants and outside supporters of First Nation occupations and protests, and to closely monitor their actions.
Montreal Cops Kill Homeless Man and Hospital Worker Going to His Job
Submitted on June 8, 2011By CBC News - June 8, 2011
A 36-year-old hospital worker was on his way to work...when he was fatally shot by Montreal police who opened fire on a homeless man they were pursuing...Patrick Limoges was on his way to work at St. Luc Hospital on Tuesday morning when he was killed by a stray bullet, after police fired on the homeless man, Mario Hamel, who they had been pursuing...Hamel also died.
European Union Officials Demand Brutal Austerity in Greece
Submitted on June 8, 2011By Stefan Steinberg - 8 June 2011
At a meeting of the European Parliament economic committee on Monday leading European officials called upon the Greek government and opposition parties to reach a consensus to impose a new round of punishing austerity measures on the country...In their totality, the cutbacks demanded by the EU at the behest of the banks amount to a social counter-revolution.
CKUT radio: Salim Vally on Palestine solidarity in South Africa
Submitted on June 7, 2011interview on the recent move at the University of Johannesburg to sever links with Ben Gurion university in Israel.
Listen/download an interview recorded live on CKUT radio's community news program Off the Hour with South African academic and activist Salim Vally gave a lecture at McGill University in Montreal entitled "Reading Edward Said in South Africa", the interview focuses on the growing Palesti
Five U.S. Soldiers Killed Amid Wave of Violence in Iraq
Submitted on June 7, 2011By Bill Van Auken - 7 June 2011
Five US soldiers were killed in a wave of violence that claimed at least 20 other lives across Iraq Monday. It was the worst single-day combat death toll for US occupation forces since April 2009...Iraqi officials...revealed that the deaths were the result of a rocket attack on Camp Victory, a US-built base near Baghdad’s international airport. Five rockets were fired into the facility, striking near living quarters of the US troops.
Why is the U.S. Waging Perpetual War on Cuba's Health Care System?
Submitted on June 7, 2011By WILLIAM BLUM - June 6, 2011
The United States sees the Cuban health system and Havana's sharing of such as a means of Cuba winning friends and allies in the Third World, particularly Latin America; a situation sharply in conflict with long-standing US policy to isolate Cuba...The United States...bans the sale to Cuba of vital medical drugs and devices...Finally, we have the Cuban Medical Professional Parole (CMPP) immigration program, which encourages Cuban doctors...to defect and enter the US immediately as refugees.
Hazel Dickens (1935-2011)
Submitted on June 7, 2011By John Pietaro - June 2011
Singer/guitarist Hazel Dickens's sound was probably about as high and lonesome as one can get. The soundtrack of Harlan County USA introduced her to many outside the country home she remained a part of. Dickens didn't just sing the anthems of labor, she lived them. Her place on many a picket line, staring down gunfire and goon squads, embedded her to the cause.
Expanding Foreign Military Bases Serves Harper’s War Agenda
Submitted on June 7, 2011By Derrick O'Keefe - June 7, 2011
The idea of expanding foreign military bases for Canada goes against the wishes of the vast majority of Canadians. With the Harper government set to make a series of cuts to public services and spending generally, one of the few areas where they seem intent on spending even more is on war and militarism.
Need 100 bucks?
Submitted on June 7, 2011The Halifax Media Co-op is seeking pitches for our next paid feature.
First Nations Under Surveillance
Submitted on June 7, 2011Harper Government Prepares for First Nations “Unrest"
Internal documents from Indian Affairs and the RCMP show that shortly after forming government in January of 2006, Prime Minister Stephen Harper had the federal government tighten up on gathering and sharing intelligence on First Nations to anticipate and manage potential First Nation unrest across Canada.
Political Policing or Business as Usual?
Submitted on June 7, 2011June 6 2011 - Libcom
Arrests of those involved in [Britain's] anti-cuts campaigns...has grabbed the attention of the press. The behaviour of the police has been widely condemned by the left, some of whom accuse them of overstepping the mark with “political policing”. But we should not be surprised by the actions of the police: this is them doing their job and doing it well...[T]he harassment and violence seen as extreme by the liberal left is terror as usual for migrants, sex workers, the homeless and other disenfranchised groups.
Spanish Revolution at a Crossroads
Submitted on June 7, 2011By PETER GELDERLOOS - Counterpunch
Far from revealing, let alone attacking, the roots of the problem, the Real Democracy Now movement congeals a widespread and critical resistance into a univocal posture of opposition devoid of content. In occupations where the Real Democracy Now platform has been the dominant ideological force...the critical discourses produced in the assembly have been confined to sloganeering...Any charismatic swindler promising an ethical change can turn this hard won momentum into votes. Democracy has accomplished the same bait and switch so many times in the past.
The National Uprising in Egypt: Lots of Turmoil — For Nothing But a Request for Better Governance, Which the Army Fulfils
Submitted on June 7, 2011[Translated from Gegenstandpunkt: Politische Vierteljahreszeitschrift 1-11, Gegenstandpunkt Verlag, Munich]
The leaders of the Western world are caught off-guard by a people: even though the West did not order it, the Egyptian people refuses loyalty to its authorities! Wherever the ruling friends of freedom call for a refusal of obedience that leads to an overthrow of a regime, they themselves get the appropriate “revolutions” with their pretty nicknames underway.
Ontario Judge Approves Extradition of Ottawa Instructor
Submitted on June 7, 2011Ontario Superior Court Justice Robert Maranger approved an extradition order on Jun. 6 for Ottawa-based former university instructor Hassan Diab, a move that may see Diab face murder and attempted murder charges in France.
America's Imperial War on Libya
Submitted on June 7, 2011Obama's claimed humanitarian intervention is lawless imperialism by any standard, America's latest target to be conquered, colonized, controlled and pillaged for greater power and profit.
Sharpening Its Axes, 'Canada's Party' Moves to Shut Down Canada's Capital
Submitted on June 7, 2011By Duncan Cameron - June 7, 2011
The Conservative's elimination of 80,000 jobs means 45 percent of the 178,000 federal public service positions will disappear. Though it remains to be decided where across Canada the cuts will come, obviously the overall negative impact on the economy on the national capital region of job losses of this magnitude will be immense, since most public servants are based in the capital area. It seems Ottawa has to become a ghost town for the Conservative ideal of small government to be achieved.
Lil'wat Delegation Carries Case to United Nations in May 2011
Submitted on June 7, 2011Press Release from Canadians for Reconciliation Society (604-261-6526)
FOR IMMEDIATE MEDIA RELEASE: May 31, 2011
A Lil'wat delegation attending the United Nation's Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues from May 16-27 just returned after addressing the lack of implementation of the 2007 UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples in Canada, which finally endorsed the said Declaration in 2010.
After 44 Years of Occupation: Where is the Israeli Peace Camp?
Submitted on June 6, 2011By Samah Sabawi - Sunday, June 5, 2011
The weak and marginalised so-called Israeli Peace Camp...is still looking for Palestinians to help them make the peace by way of dialogue initiatives and peaceful protests...With the exception of very few, they reject the Palestinian call for boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) against Israel...Rather than criticise the Palestinian non-violent resistance model that the BDS is part of, the Israeli peace camp needs to be considering the very policies that Palestinians are resisting.
July 1 Hunger Strike at Pelican Bay State Prison (California)
Submitted on June 6, 2011Monday, June 06 2011 - Infoshop News
On July 1, 2011, between 50 and 100 prisoners at Pelican Bay State Prison in the Security Housing Unit (SHU)...are going on an indefinite hunger strike. The D corridor...has the highest level of restricted incarceration in the state of California and among the most severe conditions in the United States. The rules of their confinement are extremely harsh in order to force them to "debrief" or offer up information about criminal or prison gang activity of other prisoners.
Privatizing Montreal
Submitted on June 6, 2011Community groups get ousted from a historic building to make way for luxury condominiums
Originally published on Spacing Montreal
Twenty-nine community groups are facing eviction from a public institution this month that has served Villeray-Saint Michel-Parc Extension for nearly 100 years.
Uprisings, human rights violations and violence against children in Syria
Submitted on June 6, 2011Fracking Review Misses the Mark
Submitted on June 6, 2011After a significant public outcry against the practice, the Government of Nova Scotia has launched a review of the rules and regulations of hydraulic fracturing.
Don’t Frack With Us! [Video]
Submitted on June 6, 2011Fracking is a toxic, dangerous, and wasteful form of natural gas extraction that we may see around London, Ontario. The water pollution is the worst of the fracking impacts. Tap water has become flammable after fracking is done to break gas out of nearby shale rock.
Terrorism: Washington's Weapon of Choice
Submitted on June 6, 2011By Sherry Wolf - June 06, 2011
...[T]he U.S. has spent billions of dollars to arm, train and mobilize terrorist forces as proxy armies throughout the world. The U.S. government so feared the threat to profits that communists and nationalist movements posed in the post-war era that it helped create jihadist movements and drug cartels to stop them...[W]ithout American aid and guidance, the infrastructure of terrorism would have been inconceivable.
Israeli Troops Murder Palestinian and Syrian Protesters
Submitted on June 6, 2011By Chris Marsden - WSWS
Israeli troops killed 13 protesters, after opening fire on a peaceful and unarmed demonstration at the ceasefire line in the occupied Golan Heights...After an attempt was made to cut a line of barbed wire in the Majdal Shams area, Israeli troops stopped firing warning shots and targeted protesters.
Hard-Partying Rich Boy Kills Two, Buys Himself Out of a Prison Sentence
Submitted on June 6, 2011By Julianne Escobedo Shepherd - June 6, 2011
In 2009, Ryan LeVin, the super-rich heir to an Illinois costume jewelry fortune, ran over and killed two British tourists with his Porsche before speeding away. On Friday, he plead guilty to two counts of vehicular homicide. But instead of receiving [a]...prison [sentence]...the 36-year-old will be serving two years on house arrest in Fort Lauderdale -- in a luxury oceanfront condo owned by his super-rich parents. Why? Because he made a secret settlement with the widows of the two men he killed, essentially paying them off to avoid jail time.
Reflections on the U.S. Counterrevolution
Submitted on June 6, 2011By Edward Herman - Z Magazine
We are in the midst of a counterrevolution and intensifying class war. What makes its present efflorescence so striking is that it is taking place under the presidency of Barack Obama, a man elected in good measure by an aroused mass base that is now taking its lumps. The power structure no longer permits serious attention to the welfare of that mass base...The Democrats invariably betray their voting base, but not their investor base.
Social Democracy and Social Progress
Submitted on June 6, 2011By Steve McGiffen - June 6th, 2011
Centre-left parties hold office in Norway, Greece, Spain and Portugal, but only in the first of these do their policies bear any resemblance to social democracy, the political philosophy behind the movement which brought us the welfare state...This is hardly surprising, when governments of the centre-left have signally failed to reproduce anything like the achievements of social democracy of the post-war years. This is unsurprising, given the undeniable fact that they have failed to challenge the logic of neo-liberalism.
Michael Moore Offers Job to Fired Senate Page
Submitted on June 6, 2011June 5, 2011 - CBC News
Michael Moore, the high-profile American activist and filmmaker, has offered a job to the Senate page who was fired Friday for her stunning protest against Prime Minister Stephen Harper..."I think that Canada and Canadians probably need to put aside the full respect thing and bring out their inner hockey stick and get to work on preventing their government from turning into a version of ours..."
"A Bad Idea": Nova Scotia NDP Government Organizes Trade Mission to Israel
Submitted on June 6, 2011June 4, 2011 - Halifax Media Co-op
The NS government's planned trade mission to Israel is a bad idea, a local group told the NDP convention meeting in Halifax today...Several members of Canadian, Arabs and Jews for a Just Peace (CAJJP) handed out leaflets to delegates attending the provincial NDP gathering at St. Mary's University..."The provincial government shouldn't be taking sides in Israel until it has reached a just peace with Palestinians..."
Naksa Day Commemorates Decades of Israeli State Terror
Submitted on June 6, 2011Palestinians resist Israeli state terrorism.
Childhood Abuse Brought Me to the Downtown Eastside
Submitted on June 6, 2011“In Our Own Voices,” Week I
In 1954, when I was six years old, I came to Canada from Germany. Ever since then I have lived in Vancouver. When I was growing up, my father abused me physically, mentally, and sexually. My mother did nothing to protect me.
Myth-busting the Internet: The truth about throttling, congestion and usage-based billing
Submitted on June 6, 2011New report offers scathing critique of Canadian telecoms industry
Reposted from Art Threat
Don't Frack Around Southwestern Ontario
Submitted on June 5, 2011At the end of May, some of us gathered for a "Don't frack with us!" protest in London, Ontario.
Remembering Tiananmen Square in Vancouver
Submitted on June 5, 2011Assembly at Chinese Consulate on June 4
A crowd of around 200 gathered along the Granville Street sidewalk in front of the Vancouver Chinese consulate at 8:00 pm on Saturday June 4 to observe the anniversary of the 1989 Tiananmen Square Massacre.
Italians Vote Against Austerity
Submitted on June 5, 2011By MICHAEL LEONARDI - June 3-5, 2011
Italy is in crisis with skyrocketing unemployment among young people, stagnant wages, a censured national media and a public education system that has been slashed by the right wing government. The center left...has offered little to contrast the Berlusconi government's neo-liberal policies...Now there is hope for change and a large and ever growing part of the population is in motion to ensure that this change is realized.
Continuing Bahraini State Terror
Submitted on June 5, 2011More on Washington-backed Bahraini state terror.
FBI Tried to Bribe Wikileaks Staff: Assange
Submitted on June 5, 2011By Holly Watt - Sunday, June 5, 2011
During an hour-long appearance, Mr Assange insisted that “the internet does not give you free speech”...He said that those revealing secrets on-line were “hounded from one end of the earth to the other”...Mr Assange added that his group had faced numerous recent challenges, including attempts by the FBI to try and bribe employees.
Raging Greeks Stage Biggest Anti-Austerity Protest Yet
Submitted on June 5, 2011By Will Vassilopoulos - Sunday, June 5, 2011
Thousands of Greeks took to the streets of Athens late Sunday on the 12th consecutive day of protests against the government's draconian austerity measures..."Thieves, thieves," the crowd chanted waiving Greek flags, but also flags from Spain, Portugal, Tunisia and Argentina.
UK Pay Gap Widens, Millions in Dire Straits
Submitted on June 5, 2011By Julie Hyland - 31 May 2011
The wages of “lower to middle income” workers are set to collapse, according to a report published last week, with wage rates in 2015 expected to be no higher than they were in 2001...This comes after a long period in which the wages of such workers were stagnant or fell, even before the economic collapse of 2008.
Venezuelans Mobilize Against Obama's Sanctions
Submitted on June 5, 2011By Shamus Cooke - June 05, 2011
Two massive rallies were held in one week in Caracas against...U.S. foreign intervention. Many of the speakers and many in the audience with their homemade signs expressed the motive behind the sanctions: they are nothing less than an attack on the Venezuela revolution itself and the inherent potential the revolution has to not only push away U.S. power in South America, but transform the economic system on which this power is based.
Victoria Human-Rights Advocate to Sail with Gaza Flotilla
Submitted on June 5, 2011By Zoe Blunt - June 4, 2011
One year after surviving a brutal Israeli attack on a humanitarian aid flotilla to Gaza, a Victoria human-rights advocate says he plans to join the next aid flotilla in June...Kevin Neish...was aboard the flotilla carrying supplies to Gaza on May 31, 2010 when it was attacked by Israeli armed forces in international waters...“A year ago today, nine good men were killed all around me for trying to deliver humanitarian aid to people who urgently needed it...”
Doctors on Israel's Forty-Four Year Occupation
Submitted on June 5, 2011A combination of under-staffing, underfunding, and occupation restrictions makes practicing medicine difficult to impossible for patients needing specialized care. Many can't travel for security reasons. Others can't afford treatment at Israeli hospitals. Palestinian ones do what they can, but too often it's not enough.
Victoria human-rights advocate to sail with Gaza Flotilla
Submitted on June 4, 2011Kevin Neish survived the Israeli attack on the 2010 flotilla, smuggled out photos of atrocities
One year after surviving a brutal Israeli attack on a humanitarian aid flotilla to Gaza, a Victoria human-rights advocate says he plans to join the next aid flotilla in June.
A Shameless UN Secretary General vs. Freedom Flotilla 2
Submitted on June 4, 2011By Richard Falk - Znet
...[I]t shocks our moral and legal sensibilities that the UN Secretary General should be using the authority of his office to urge member governments to prevent ships from joining Freedom Flotilla 2...Instead of protecting those who would act on behalf of unlawful Palestinian victimization, the UN Secretary General disgraces the office, by taking a one-sided stand in support of one of the most flagrant and long lasting instances of injustice that has been allowed to persist in the world.
Silence Is Deadly: I’m Speaking Out Against Canada-U.S. Tar Sands Pipeline
Submitted on June 4, 2011By James Hansen - Energy Bulletin
If this project gains approval, it will become exceedingly difficult to control the tar sands monster. The environmental impacts of tar sands development include: irreversible effects on biodiversity and the natural environment, reduced water quality, destruction of fragile pristine Boreal Forest and associated wetlands...habitat loss, disruption to life cycles of endemic wildlife particularly bird and Caribou migration, fish deformities and negative impacts on the human health in downstream communities.
NS Trade Mission to Israel a "Bad Idea"
Submitted on June 4, 2011The Government has no Business Taking Sides.
NEWS RELEASE June 4, 2011
Halifax --The NS government's planned trade mission to Israel is a bad idea, a local group told the NDP convention meeting in Halifax today.
Rallies in Ottawa and Gatineau showing support for postal workers / Rassemblement à Ottawa et Gatineau en solidarité avec les postiers et postières
Submitted on June 4, 2011Unions, activists and students gather to show support for CUPW / Syndicats, militants et étudiants manifestent leur soutien envers le STTP
-Le français suit-
OTTAWA/GATINEAU - The Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) began a 24 hour strike in Winnipeg on June 3 and will continue to pull out workers and rotate the strike to other locations. Workers in Hamilton are next to strike on June 4.
Canada Tries to Hide Alberta Tar Sands Carbon Emissions
Submitted on June 4, 2011By Suzanne Goldenberg - Wednesday, June 1, 2011
Barely a day goes by it seems when someone from Stephen Harper's government is not touting the benefits of the Alberta tar sands...But when it came to counting up the carbon emissions produced by the tar sands - big and growing bigger - a strange amnesia seems to have taken hold.
A Note on the Mighty Wurlitzer: Anatomy of Modern Propaganda Techniques
Submitted on June 4, 2011Zahir Ebrahim | Project Humanbeingsfirst.org
'The conscious and intelligent manipulation of the organized habits and opinions of the masses is an important element in democratic society. Those who manipulate this unseen mechanism of society constitute an invisible government which is the true ruling power of our country. We are governed, our minds are molded, our tastes formed, our ideas suggested, largely by men we have never heard of.'
- Edward Bernays, from his seminal book Propaganda (1928), pg.1
"The Best Journalists Are Subversives": The Martha Gellhorn Prize for Journalism
Submitted on June 4, 2011By John Pilger - June 04, 2011
“This prize is in honour of one of the 20th century’s greatest reporters. It’s awarded to a journalist whose work has penetrated the established version of events and told an unpalatable truth. It’s validated by powerful facts that expose establishment propaganda, or ‘official drivel’, as Martha Gellhorn called it.”
Canada Considering 'International' Military Bases
Submitted on June 4, 2011June 2, 2011 - CBC News
Canada is looking at setting up bases around the world to better position the military to participate in international missions, Defence Minister Peter MacKay confirmed Thursday...A report in Montreal newspaper Le Devoir said the Canadian Forces is negotiating to set up bases under a program known as the Operational Support Hubs Network. They've reportedly already completed negotiations with Germany and Jamaica, and are in talks with Kuwait, Senegal, Kenya or Tanzania, Singapore and South Korea.
American and Canadian No-Fly Lists and Their Impact on Civil Liberties [Video]
Submitted on June 3, 2011This video discussion is about the "Canadian and American no-fly lists and their impact on civil liberties."
Alvaro Orozco Released from Detention
Submitted on June 3, 2011By No One Is Illegal-Toronto - May 31, 2011
No One Is Illegal-Toronto joins Toronto’s queer and arts community in celebrating the upcoming release of Alvaro Orozco from immigration detention. Alvaro has been in detention since Friday, May 13th, after being racially profiled and arrested by Toronto Police outside Ossington station. Alvaro Orozco’s Humanitarian & Compassionate application for immigration status was approved late Tuesday afternoon and he will be released back to his community on Wednesday.
5 Reasons to Support Postal Workers
Submitted on June 3, 2011Monday, May 30, 2011 - Your Heart's on the Left
Prime Minister Harper used the G20 meeting last year to push an austerity agenda, and this week is visiting Greece to support austerity there--which includes privatization, massive cuts to social services, layoffs and attacks on pensions. That's what Harper wants to bring to Canada and the Canadian Union of Postal Workers strike is his first obstacle. A defeat for CUPW will be a victory for Harper and his corporate backers across the country.
Lest We Forget: One Year After the Mavi and Why I'm Sailing to Gaza
Submitted on June 3, 2011By Miles Howe - June 3, 2011
On May 31st, the one-year anniversary of the massacre of nine peace activists aboard the MV Mavi Marmara, a group of Haligonians came to pay their tribute in front of the Library...The Mavi, as the world remembers, was the Turkish flagship of the Freedom Flotilla, the international armada of ships that was attacked on the high seas by the Israeli Defence Forces, while attempting to deliver aid to Gaza...They came to commemorate the lives of...the eight Turks and one Turkish-American who had lost their lives in the attack.
Senate Page Disrupts Throne Speech
Submitted on June 3, 2011By Cameron Fenton - June 3, 2011
Ottawa - During the reading of Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s throne speech today, a young page was yanked from the Senate Chamber as she tried to hold up a stop sign placard reading “Stop Harper”...“Harper’s agenda is disastrous for this country and for my generation...We have to stop him from wasting billions on fighter jets, military bases, and corporate tax cuts while cutting social programs and destroying the climate."
Mines basses: un reportage sur les enjeux de l'industrie extractive canadienne
Submitted on June 3, 2011Refusons toute complicité avec les abus de droits humains perpétrés aux 4 coins du monde par les minières canadiennes. Refusons le désastre écologique des néoconservateurs nord-américains.
Senate Page disrupts Throne Speech
Submitted on June 3, 2011Harper’s disastrous agenda needs to be stopped with creative action and civil disobedience
Ottawa/- During the reading of Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s throne speech today, a young page was yanked from the Senate Chamber as she tried to hold up a stop sign placard reading “Stop Harper.”
Forty-Four Years of Occupation
Submitted on June 3, 2011Palestine "has been under criminal occupation for 44 years. During that time, (Israel) committed the worst crimes against humanity, violating every international instrument. The occupier has killed tens of thousands of our struggling people, most of them defenseless civilians. There have been over 800,000 instances of imprisonment. Tens of thousands of people have been injured..."
The Hidden Injuries of Iraqi Refugees
Submitted on June 3, 2011By Dr Adam Coutts - Al Jazeera
Little attention has been given in the post-conflict reconstruction of Iraq to the health and well-being of refugees and their children. Indeed, with the advent of the Arab Spring, the situation of displaced Iraqi refugees has left media, public and national policy agendas altogether. But almost a decade after US and British troops first touched down on Iraqi soil, families continue to lack basic resources. Children are living in a very fragile and tense social environment...
Greek Government to Announce Billions More in Austerity Measures
Submitted on June 3, 2011By Andre Damon - WSWS
The Greek government is preparing to announce another €6.4 billion ($9.3 billion) in austerity measures, after Moody's, the debt rating agency, cut the country's credit rating three notches, sending it deep into junk status...The Greek government responded to the downgrade by stating that it will go through with the austerity measures demanded by the [European Union] and IMF regardless of domestic opposition.
Postal Workers on Strike Across Canada
Submitted on June 3, 2011Interview with a postal worker in Fredericton, NB
Ruth Breen is a letter carrier and a member of the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) in Fredericton, New Brunswick. I interviewed Ruth at the Fredericton CUPW local office the night before the union launched a cross-country rotating strike to fight for better wages and better working conditions.
Lest We Forget. One Year After the Mavi, and Why I'm Sailing to Gaza
Submitted on June 3, 2011On May 31st, the one-year anniversary of the massacre of nine peace activists aboard the MV Mavi Marmara, a group of Haligonians came to pay their tribute in front of the Library on Spring Garden Road. The gathering was close to spontaneous, a notice having circulated through internet channels only the night before.
Power of Women Walk the Word
Submitted on June 3, 2011“In Our Own Voices” writing project embodies liberation and resistance
As the photographer prepared the group shot of the Power of Women Group to accompany the In Our Own Voices writing project, one of the women – between jokes, adjustments, and latecomers– said it reminded her of posing for a class photo in elementary school.
Media Co-op Investor: May
Submitted on June 2, 2011We Pull on The Threads of Gildan Activewear
Welcome to Media Co-op Investor!
The Media Co-op Investor Series aims to help the general public understand the stock market, how it works and the major companies which benefit from it.
States Harming People Most in Need
Submitted on June 2, 2011During today's dire economic times, budget strapped states are implementing harsh cuts, harming vulnerable residents most.
America's Most Dangerous Pill?
Submitted on June 2, 2011By Christopher Byron - June 1, 2011
...[W]hen it comes to prescription drugs that are not only able to kill you but can drag out the final reckoning for years on end, with worsening misery at every step of the way, it is hard to top the benzodiazepines. And no "benzo" has been more lethal to millions of Americans than a popular prescription drug called Klonopin.
Giving Eric Cartman the Moral High Ground: U.S. College Football
Submitted on June 2, 2011By Dave Zirin - May 31, 2011
A plantation-economy nonprofit really has no place in a civil society. College football needs to be shut down and reopened under new management. Give players a stipend, guarantee scholarships for four years, cap salaries of head coaches, and start over because the current model has failed: morally, ethically and economically.
Vancouver's "Veneer-Reform" City Government
Submitted on June 2, 2011By Tristan Markle - June 2, 2011
Mayor Gregor Robertson and Vision Vancouver were thrown into power in the fall of 2008 by a populace demanding change. Robertson talked about ending homelessness, creating affordable housing, and even tackling real-estate speculation...But Vision-in-power has squandered its mandate for change. Vancouver's affordability crisis has deepened...Outrageous land prices inflate costs across the board, from food to art.
Canadian Union of Postal Workers To Strike Tonight at 11:59pm EST
Submitted on June 2, 2011Strike Begins Tonight in Winnipeg
The Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) is set to use its right to strike after 7 months of negotiations have fallen apart.
U.S.-Led Global War on Drugs a Failure
Submitted on June 2, 2011Thursday, June 2, 2011 - Common Dreams
A 19-member international panel has condemned the US-led "War on Drugs" campaign as a failure and has recommended major reforms of the global drug prohibition regime..."Overwhelming evidence from Europe, Canada and Australia now demonstrates the human and social benefits both of treating drug addiction as a health rather than criminal justice problem and of reducing reliance on prohibitionist policies...These policies need to be adopted worldwide, with requisite changes to the international drug control conventions."
America's Creeping Police State
Submitted on June 1, 2011By Rania Khalek - May 31, 2011
Considering the level of brutality we have been dishing out around the world, from the “war on drugs” to the “war on terror,” the erosion of our civil liberties is sadly inevitable. Did we really think that we could wage war and occupy other nations with checkpoints, invasive surveillance, and brutal violence without these same policing tactics spreading to our country?
The Sky Really Is Falling
Submitted on June 1, 2011By Chris Hedges - May 30, 2011
The rapid and terrifying acceleration of global warming...has been confronted by the power elite with two kinds of self-delusion. There are those...who dismiss the science and empirical evidence as false. There are others who accept the science surrounding global warming but insist that the human species can adapt. Our only salvation — the rapid dismantling of the fossil fuel industry — is ignored by both groups. And we will be led...toward collective self-annihilation by dimwitted pied pipers and fools.
Netanyahu's War on Gaza
Submitted on June 1, 2011Governing lawlessly by any standard, Netanyahu waged war on Gaza since becoming Israel's prime minister for the second time on March 31, 2009.
UK Undermining Europe's Tar Sands Ban: Campaigners
Submitted on June 1, 2011By Terry Macalister - Monday, May 30, 2011
Britain is being accused of undermining a European-wide drive to ban forecourt sales of petrol and diesel derived from the carbon-heavy tar sands of Canada..."It is extremely disappointing that the UK has caved in to pressure from Canada, which sees Europe as setting a dangerous precedent for the rest of the world to follow, potentially closing one market after another...If it really does want to be the greenest government ever, it must lead by example and not be swayed by aggressive Canadian lobbying..."
Mohammad Mahjoub: The Life of a Security Certificate Detainee
Submitted on June 1, 2011By Sara Falconer - June 1, 2011
...Mahjoub is...held under surveillance that is completely unprecedented in the judicial system in Canada. He wears a GPS tracking bracelet at all times. A camera outside his door monitors his every move, and he is only permitted to leave the house for four hours a day, and only within a few blocks of his apartment. CSIS monitors every phone call...they were caught listening to protected solicitor-client phone calls between Mahjoub and his lawyer, contrary to a court order.
The Halifax Media Co-op is Hiring!
Submitted on June 1, 2011The Halifax Media Co-op is hiring a Content and Outreach Coordinator!
The Content and Outreach Coordinator will work closely with the HMC Coordinator to build the capacity of the HMC. This will involve everything from member outreach and fundraising to writing and editing articles.
Waging War at Home and Abroad While Pledging Peace
Submitted on May 31, 2011Rampaging American lawlessness.
NATO Says Attacks on Afghan Houses 'Necessary,' Will Continue
Submitted on May 31, 2011Tuesday, May 31, 2011 - Common Dreams
A NATO spokesperson says attacks on houses in Afghanistan are necessary and will continue, despite Afghan President Hamid Karzai's assertion that he will no longer permit them to take place...Karzai took a hard-line stance Tuesday against NATO air-strikes on houses, following an attack over the weekend that claimed the lives of women and children.
Jewish Group Challenges Harper's Knee-Jerk Support for Israeli Government
Submitted on May 31, 2011May 30, 2011
“Instead of taking steps to promote a resolution to the ongoing crisis in Israel and Palestine, the Harper government supports the government of Israel regardless of what it does,” declared Sid Shniad, spokesperson for Independent Jewish Voices Canada..."Israel's hard right, intransigent government is delighted with Harper...It was because of Canada that there was no mention of Israel's pre-1967 borders made in the leaders' final communiqué released by the gathering of G8 leaders in France."
Banks Demand Savage Austerity Measures in Greece
Submitted on May 31, 2011By Patrick O’Connor - 31 May 2011
The initial round of mass public sector layoffs, wage cuts, and destruction of welfare and social infrastructure programs impoverished wide layers of the Greek population, but failed to satisfy the European banks. They are now demanding control over the country’s economy, with representatives of...the so-called troika...to be placed directly in charge of a privatisation program that will see Greece’s public assets sold off and the proceeds funneled to the banks.
Don't frack with us!
Submitted on May 31, 2011These photos are from a London, Ontario protest against fracking.
Part of the rally call-out said -
Public Banking: An Idea Whose Time Has Come
Submitted on May 31, 2011Public banking is the solution for economic equity.
Public Support for Postal Workers / CUPW (plus links)
Submitted on May 31, 2011People are showing their support for the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) stand against Canada Post's demands for cuts in jobs, wages, working conditions and the services provided by the public postal service.
Here are four photos from the Maritimes (click on them to see the full image)
Websites:
24 hours to go! Be part of a media revolution!
Submitted on May 31, 2011"The best old school journalism understood that its purpose was to challenge power with unassailable facts; the best activist journalism knows that constructive resistance is fueled by media we can actually use. The Dominion represents the vital fusion of these two traditions: it deserves massive support."
Trust Women Symposium Works Towards a Cultural Shift in Discussion of Sexual Justice
Submitted on May 31, 2011“We trust women and believe in their agency. We trust women and respect their bodily autonomy. We trust women know best about their own lives and must make their own choices for themselves,” states the homepage of the Trust Women website.
Solidarity in Ras al-Amud: East Jerusalem
Submitted on May 30, 2011We gather at 4:00 outside the settlers’ multi-story stone building opposite the old police station at Ras al-Amud, on the Mount of Olives. This was the week of Netanyahu’s speech before Congress; if, utterly unlikely as this may be, there is anyone in the world who failed to notice that he was lying through his teeth, then Wednesday’s official ceremony unveiling the new settlement here in East Jerusalem should be enough to remove the veil. He used the word “peace” many times, in most cases meaning “war
Art from behind bars
Submitted on May 30, 2011Female prisoners find their voice in first-of-its-kind art project and exhibit
Prison: a place whose very name incites a chill at the thought of being behind bars. But what if the conditions of incarceration could be understood without a criminal record? Agir: art des femmes en prison allows that very experiencing of the haunting realities of female incarceration in a unique multi-media exhibit.
Tory Tax Policies May Aggravate Gap Between Rich and Poor
Submitted on May 30, 2011By Les Whittington - May 27, 2011
Inequality and poverty declined in Canada for 20 years before the late 1990s...but since have gotten much worse...“In the last 10 years, the rich have been getting richer, leaving both middle and poorer income classes behind”...And some analysts say the economic strategies being pursued by a re-elected Harper will only make matters worse, leading to a further expansion of the income gap between the very rich and others in Canada.
The Aboriginal "Intervention" in Australia
Submitted on May 30, 2011By Susan Allan - 30 May 2011
As far as [Australia's Labor government] is concerned, the first intervention has already served its purpose as a spearhead for draconian measures against welfare recipients. Any turn to a second intervention against Aborigines would inevitably mean a dramatic new escalation of the assault on the living conditions of the most impoverished layers of the working class throughout the country.
Obama Plans Gutting Regulations for Corporate Favorites
Submitted on May 30, 2011Corporate friendly deregulation.
Who in the Middle East Cares What Obama Says?
Submitted on May 30, 2011By Robert Fisk - May 30, 2011
While Barack Obama and Benjamin Netanyahu played out their farce in Washington – Obama grovelling as usual – the Arabs got on with the serious business of changing their world, demonstrating and fighting and dying for freedoms they have never possessed. Obama waffled on about change in the Middle East – and about America's new role in the region. It was pathetic. "What is this 'role' thing?" an Egyptian friend asked me at the weekend. "Do they still believe we care about what they think?"
The Downtown Eastside Power of Women Group Presents “In Our Own Voices” Writing Project!
Submitted on May 30, 2011The Downtown Eastside Power of Women Group is launching the In Our Own Voices writing project in June 2011. After a six-week period of intensive writing, we are ready to share our stories about hope, struggle, love and resistance in the Downtown Eastside.
Karzai Gives U.S. 'Last Warning' Over Civilian Deaths
Submitted on May 29, 2011By Sardar Ahmad - Sunday, May 29, 2011
Afghan President Hamid Karzai called on the US military on Sunday to avoid operations that kill civilians, saying it was his "last warning" to Washington after 14 people allegedly died in an air strike..."The president called this incident a great mistake and the murdering of Afghanistan's children and women, and on behalf of the Afghan people gives his last warning to the US troops and US officials in this regard..."
"We Don't Need No Stinkin' Badges": The New Face Of War
Submitted on May 29, 2011By Conn Hallinan - Znet Commentary
The assassination of al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden did more than knock off America's Public Enemy Number One, it formalized a new kind of warfare, where sovereignty is irrelevant, armies tangential, and decisions are secret...It is as if counter-terrorism reconfigured that classic line from the movie The Treasure of the Sierra Madre: "We don't need no stinkin' badges, we got drones and Seals."
Just Another Day in the Incarceration Society
Submitted on May 29, 2011By SHERWOOD ROSS - May 26, 2011
Our criminal justice system overwhelmingly reflects the views of the privileged as against the poor. It is class war, pure and simple...If you want a glimpse into the soul of a nation, visit one of its prisons.
Truth In the Midst of a Battle Zone
Submitted on May 29, 2011A battle zone. Burning rubble, riot control, tear gas grenades being deployed, SWAT teams stomping around, crowd dispersal chemical weapon OC gas assault rifles being utilized, screaming cries of pain echoing throughout the atmosphere — this is an absolute war-zone. Yes, all of the things mentioned above apply to this environment right now. This is what is happening
A Warning From Finland
Submitted on May 29, 2011By BORIS KAGARLITSKY - May 27-29, 2011
Whenever free market policy fails, the only salvation offered is even higher doses of the same policy....As a result, [European voters] are searching for an alternative. Not finding one in the political left, they are turning to nationalist parties that promise their voters measures for combating unemployment, government regulation of the market and...the willingness to challenge the ruling structures of the European Union.
Why We All Must Support Our Postal Workers
Submitted on May 29, 2011In all honesty it is as simple as this: You want to fight Harper? Then support the posties!
Vermont Enacts Conditional Universal Healthcare Coverage
Submitted on May 29, 2011A baby step only toward universal health care coverage in Vermont.
Syria Becomes Centre of Struggle for Regional Influence
Submitted on May 29, 2011By Jean Shaoul - WSWS
[Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s] lethal use of tanks, troops, security forces, police and armed thugs has played a major role in deterring protesters. But a further factor is the character, perspective and leadership of the “opposition” forces and dissidents being promoted by the US, British and French media.
A Disgusting Lovefest
Submitted on May 29, 2011By ESAM AL-AMIN - May 27-29, 2011
When Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressed the U.S. Congress in a joint session on May 24 it gave the right-wing extremist Israeli leader 29 standing ovations...It was a disgusting love fest...Despite the numerous lies and distortions that filled the speech, members of Congress were racing one another to stand, smile, and declare their loyalty to the Zionist state.
Encircling Russia with U.S. Bases
Submitted on May 29, 2011Congressional majorities support Washington's imperial agenda, including global militarization against potential challengers and America's main rivals - China and Russia, encircling them belligerently with bases and strategic weapons. It's a policy fraught with danger.
Is Green the New Red?
Submitted on May 29, 2011By Robert Meeropol - May 28th, 2011
[Note: Robert Meeropol is the younger son of Ethel and Julius Rosenberg.]
This movement isn’t about being nice to kittens and puppies. It’s about torture of animals on a massive scale, in pursuit of corporate profit. Huntingdon Life Sciences kills at least 71,000 and possibly as many as 181,000 animals annually to test cleaners, cosmetics, drugs, pesticides and other ingredients. Hidden camera videos have recorded employees beating animals and dissecting live monkeys.
U.S. Activist, Poet and Singer Gil Scott-Heron Dies
Submitted on May 29, 201128 May 2011 - Al Jazeera
US poet and songwriter Gil Scott-Heron, credited with helping to inspire the development of rap, has died at the age of 62...Scott-Heron - best known for his spoken word piece 'The Revolution Will Not Be Televised', which critiqued mass media - used poetry as his vehicle for activism committed to the human rights of people around the world.
Vancouver's Fake Policy Hides Disappearing Low-Income Housing
Submitted on May 29, 2011By Maria Wallstam and Nathan Crompton - May 29, 2011
The upscaling of hotels...is taking place within a larger process of neighbourhood change. A recent study released by the Carnegie Community Action Project...found that the number of hotels renting at welfare rates has decreased to 12% from 29% the year before. These trends show that the interests of private owners are simply not compatible with the needs of low-income renters, yet the city routinely sides with owners over renters.
Wisconsin Judge Strikes Down Anti-Union Law
Submitted on May 29, 2011On May 27, Circuit Court Judge Maryann Sumi rescinded Republican Governor Scott Walker's bill in a 33-page decision, ruling Republican lawmakers violated Wisconsin's open meetings law.
Canadian Elections: Another Failed Intervention
Submitted on May 29, 2011By Derrick O'Keefe - Green Left Weekly
Having moved to solidify the support of business and foreign policy hawks, [Michael] Ignatieff then tacked to the left at the start of this spring’s election campaign, criticizing Harper’s wildly expensive no-bid purchase of F-35 fighter jets, and outlining a number of modest reforms...The result was that almost no one in Canada bought it, opting either for NDP leader Jack Layton’s warmed over social democracy...or Harper’s Conservatives...In the wreckage of his failed Canadian intervention, Ignatieff left a majority government for the Bush-like Harper.
Marching for Status for All
Submitted on May 29, 2011Over 200 people marched in the streets of Montreal to call for all migrants and undocumented people to be granted status. In the meantime, they are calling on social service providers to join them in calling for adequate services to be provided to all people, regardless of status.
More video, audio and text to come.
More Myth than Massacre at Srebrenica
Submitted on May 28, 2011The alleged Srebrenica victim count reflected lies and half-truths based on what's known but omitted in official and major media accounts.
California Prison Judgment Shines Light on Human Indignity
Submitted on May 28, 2011Thursday, May 26, 2011 - Globe and Mail
Over three decades, the population of California's jails increased by 750 per cent, to the ludicrous total of more than 140,000...It was an orgy of punishment. People who had committed two violent crimes were sent away for a minimum of 25 years for a third crime, violent or non-violent, as in the famous case of a man who stole a pizza.
Not Everyone Loves Oprah
Submitted on May 28, 2011By Julianne Hing - AlterNet
How much of Oprah’s appeal comes from the fact that she embodies women’s worst insecurities about themselves even as she exhorts women to get over it already? Does that make her human, or does it make her cynically depraved? I skipped straight to the book reviews in that issue and looked at little else.
G8 Meeting Pledges Austerity and War
Submitted on May 28, 2011By Stefan Steinberg - WSWS
Confronted with the most serious economic crisis since the 1930's, the major imperialist powers are wiping out all the gains achieved by workers in the post-war period. They are well aware that such a program will provoke...mass opposition...In response, governments across the globe are beefing up their own military apparatus to deal with the increasing domestic opposition to their policies, while also conducting a growing number of open-ended colonial wars aimed at re-dividing the world and its resources.
Statement of Unity on Justice for Migrant Workers in Canada
Submitted on May 28, 2011Cleaning up City Squares in 'Democratic' Spain
Submitted on May 28, 2011By Pablo Ouziel - May 27, 2011
...[T]he city government called for the dispersal of the crowds in order to allow for clean up teams to enter. Although this was the official stance, it soon became apparent that cleaning garbage from the square was not the true intent, and that the real aim of the operation was to seize computers, printers and documents from the movement’s steering committees, and to put an end to this popular uprising which is posing a threat to the country’s political and economic elites.
Just a few days left in the Media Co-op's May membership drive
Submitted on May 28, 2011Happy Saturday everyone!
TorStar Bargains For Canada Post
Submitted on May 27, 2011During any labor dispute, unions have to deal with the fact that the corporate press is one of the most powerful weapons that management has. Vanessa Lu’s article (“Canada Post blasts union demands” Toronto Star, May 24, 2011) illustrates this clearly. Lu reported that according to Canada Post (CPC) the union’s latest contract proposal adds $1.4 billion in costs.
Spring at Sutikalh
Submitted on May 27, 2011Recently, I spent two weeks at Sutikalh, the St'at'imc village established in 2000 to protect the Melvin Creek/Cayoosh Mountain range from a proposed all-season ski resort. Sutikalh is located halfway between Mount Currie and Lillooet along Highway 99 in southern BC, and recently celebrated its 11th anniversary.
The Right Wing's Mirror-Image View of Life
Submitted on May 27, 2011By Cliff Schecter - 23 May 2011
The sad reality is that, to be pro-life in the US today, which is to be conservative in almost all cases, is to love thy enemy by supporting illegal wars...that kill hundreds of thousands of innocents, cutting health-care benefits and nutrition programs for children and the poor, and turning the other cheek … of the person you're torturing.
Welcome to the Violent World of Mr. Hopey Changey
Submitted on May 27, 2011By John Pilger - May 28, 2011
...[A]s “Mr. Hopey Changey”...is fawned upon by the British elite...the Anglo-American reign of terror proceeds in Afghanistan and elsewhere, with the murder of people by unmanned drones...For the record, on a scorecard of imposed misery, from secret trials and prisons and the hounding of whistle-blowers and the criminalising of dissent to the incarceration and impoverishment of his own people, mostly black people, Obama is as bad as George W. Bush.
Proposed SFPR freeway violates First Nations burial sites, lawsuit filed
Submitted on May 27, 2011Only weeks after protesters packed up the South Fraser Protection Camp under threat of an injunction, the tables have been turned and freeway opponents have gone on the offensive and taken legal action to stop construction of the $1.2 billion South Fraser Perimeter Road (SFPR) freeway.
Indoctrinating a New Generation to Think North American
Submitted on May 26, 2011With Canada and the U.S. pursuing a trade and security perimeter agreement which could later include Mexico, it has once again highlighted the whole process of North American integration. This deep-rooted agenda has permeated our schools, universities and other learning institutions. Through various initiatives, the future leaders of tomorrow are being indoctrinated to view themselves as North American citizens as opposed to Canadians, Mexicans or Americans.
Obama Address to UK Parliament: A Joint Agenda for Austerity and War
Submitted on May 26, 2011By Julie Hyland - 26 May 2011
Barack Obama’s three-day state visit to the UK was more than an extravagant PR opportunity for an increasingly discredited US president and Britain’s deeply unpopular Conservative-Liberal Democrat government...It underscored the unity of Washington and London in attempting to push through a social counter-revolution in their own countries, while insisting on similar “medicine” for the peoples of the world and threatening punitive action against any potential challengers.
DC Cops Slam Down Paraplegic [Video]
Submitted on May 26, 2011Here we have two cops in Washington, DC, take down a guy in a wheelchair by actually picking him up out of his chair and slamming him into the pavement.
Raising a Solidarity City
Submitted on May 26, 2011Status for All march takes to the streets this Saturday
This Saturday, Montrealers are taking to the pavement to strengthen the foundations of their own Solidarity City.
At noon, the third annual Status for All march in support of undocumented migrants and immigrants to Canada facing precarious living conditions will kick off at the corner of Jean Talon and Boyer.
Netanyahu Spurns Peace
Submitted on May 26, 2011Netanyahu endorses continued occupation and repression.
How Police Get Away With Murder
Submitted on May 26, 2011By Marti Hiken and Luke Hiken - Dissident Voice
Police officers who murder citizens in our communities are more likely than not to get off scot-free. The odds are that they will not be prosecuted at all, and if they are, they will be offered a plea bargain to misdemeanor assault or manslaughter, at worst. The reasons that police can kill at will are found in the laws themselves...Our society doesn’t mind cops who kill, only citizens who do.
SFPR freeway violates First Nations burial sites - lawsuit filed - Media Conference Today
Submitted on May 26, 2011For Immediate Release:
SECOND LAWSUIT FILED AGAINST SOUTH FRASER PERIMETER ROAD
Wednesday, May 25, 2011, Vancouver, B.C.:
Shia Rally Against U.S. Troops in Iraq, Threaten to Take Up Arms if Troops Don't Leave by Year-End Deadline
Submitted on May 26, 201126 May 2011 - Al Jazeera
Thousands of supporters of Shia cleric Muqtada al-Sadr have ralled in the Iraqi capital, Baghdad, in a show of force against any extension of US military presence in the country past a year-end deadline..."They have a message aimed at Americans: if you stay beyond the deadline set by the SOFA agreement...if they stay beyond that date which is 31 of December, the end of this year, the Mahdi army will resume its military activities and they will battle US forces..."
Ontario Tories Propose Mandatory Labour for Prisoners
Submitted on May 26, 2011CBC News - May 26, 2011
The Ontario Progressive Conservatives say if they are elected in the fall, they would force convicted prisoners in provincial facilities to work up to 40 hours a week of manual labour...Under the Tory plan, prisoners would pick up garbage along rural highways, cut grass and clean graffiti along city streets, among other similar tasks...They would receive "credits" for the work, which they could redeem for television, coffee time or other "rewards."
Radios Populares presentation @ 12th Anarchist Bookfair
Submitted on May 26, 2011the collective Radio Populares spoke at the 12th Montreal Anarchist Bookfair on May 21,2011
Radio Populares is a Chicago-based collective, who held a presentation last saturday during the Anarchist Bookfair.They collaborate with communities struggling for social justice to build low power FM community radio stations since 2002.
Early 20th Century Canadian Immigration Policy and Asian Immigrants - The Story of the Komagata Maru
Submitted on May 25, 2011Early 20th century Canadian immigration policy is marred with racist laws formed to prevent the coming of Asians to British Columbia. The story of Asian immigration is almost as old as British Columbia itself. The first Asians to immigrate to Canada were probably the Chinese in the mid 1800’s. They were lured by the Gold Rush.
Canada on Secret Oil Offensive
Submitted on May 25, 2011By Martin Lukacs - The Dominion
MONTREAL — The Canadian government has been carrying out a secret plan in Europe to boost investment and keep world markets open for the Alberta tar sands, collaborating with major oil companies and aggressively undermining European environmental measures, documents obtained by The Dominion reveal.
NATO Bombing of Tripoli Kills 19 Civilians, Wounds 150
Submitted on May 25, 2011By Bill Van Auken - 25 May 2011
In the most intensive bombardment since the US and NATO launched their war of aggression against Libya, strikes by British and other NATO warplanes in the early hours of Tuesday morning killed 19 Libyan civilians. Another 150 were wounded, some of them seriously, according to Libya’s health ministry...Tuesday morning’s raid appeared to be aimed at decapitating the Libyan regime, or failing that, terrorizing Tripoli’s population and those who oppose NATO’s intervention.
April 20 Day of Action Against Extraction on Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill Anniversary [Video]
Submitted on May 25, 2011Rising Tide documents it's week of "Action against Extraction" marking the April 20th, 2011 anniversary of BP's Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Across North America and as far as Helsinki and Wellington the destruction wrought by BP, Halliburton, Trans Ocean, and a complacent government was not just remembered, but resisted.
"I Won't Give Up": Queer Artist Alvaro Orozco Speaks from Immigration Detention
Submitted on May 25, 2011By Luam Kidane and Ryan Hayes - May 21, 2011
At 8pm on Friday May 13, award-winning undocumented queer artist Alvaro Orozco was arrested by Toronto Police after being 'randomly ID'd' on his way to dinner with friends. Now in detention at the Toronto Immigration Holding Centre, he faces imminent deportation to Nicaragua.
Protester Who Heckled Netanyahu in U.S. Congress Allegedly Beaten, Arrested at Hospital
Submitted on May 25, 2011By Eric W. Dolan - Tuesday, May 24th, 2011
CODEPINK activist Rae Abileah was arrested at the George Washington University Hospital in Washington D.C. after heckling Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu...The 28-year-old Jewish American woman was allegedly tackled by members of the American-Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) during Netanyahu's speech to Congress after she yelled, "stop Israeli war crimes."
Downtown Eastside Women’s Centre and Women’s Memorial March Committee Challenge BC Government’s Decision Regarding Missing Women’s Inquiry
Submitted on May 25, 2011May 24, 2011
The Downtown Eastside Women’s Centre and Feb 14th Women’s Memorial March Committee are strongly condemning the BC government’s decision to not provide funding to support their participation in the Missing Women’s Inquiry...“It is disgusting that the Vancouver Police Department and the Government of Canada...will have well-paid lawyers and unlimited tax dollars to defend themselves. Meanwhile, voices from the Downtown Eastside, particularly those of Indigenous women, will continue to be deliberately marginalized and shut out.”
Retraction Reaction
Submitted on May 25, 2011Wanna Make A Hundred Bucks?
Submitted on May 25, 2011Monthly call for pitches to The Dominion
As we do every month, in June we will pay two contributors for news features to be published in The Dominion. We prioritize solutions-oriented news pieces with a Canadian angle, including photo essays and video pitches. Pitches are welcome from anyone; priority for payment goes to those who have previously contributed.
How to pitch a story:
Massive Security Preparations for the G8 Meeting in France
Submitted on May 25, 2011By Antoine Lerougetel - WSWS
The leaders of the major capitalist governments fear and hate the masses from whose lives and needs they are entirely alienated. This attitude is expressed in the massive security mobilisation at Deauville. An elite special forces team is on standby. The army has a command post on a hill overlooking the city and police will patrol the hills around the town on horseback and mountain bikes. Access to residents will be based on presentation of a badge provided by the Deauville police station.
Notorious Racist Arizona Sheriff's Deputies Arrested for Cartel Ties
Submitted on May 25, 2011By Sarah Seltzer - May 25, 2011
Notorious racist Sherrif Joe Arpaio, who has spent time on the conservative circuit of late endearing himself to the Tea Party, maybe should have been supervising his own house instead..."The group mostly moved heroin...and officials suspect each of the arrested sheriff's employees played a crucial role in moving the drugs and hiding the illicit profits. Authorities say the ring moved about $56,000 worth of heroin a week through the Valley."
In Saakashvili's Georgia, the Bloom Is Off the Rose
Submitted on May 25, 2011Since May 21, anti-goverment protests have rocked Georgia. Organized by an alliance of opposition parties, they erupted initially in September 2007 for early elections and democratic change, as well as ending corruption and police state terror.
Zionism and the Morality of Acceptance
Submitted on May 25, 2011By Kim Petersen - Dissident Voice
An article in [the] Globe and Mail starts off with a claim by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that “[t]he only truly free Arabs living in the Middle East are the one million who live in Israel…”...Netanyahu’s statement plummets the depths of Israeli Jewish racism...While Netayahu claims to accept the idea of a Palestinian state, Israel has been colonizing and splitting the West Bank into Bantustans. Israel’s actions do not match the rhetoric. It is transparently racist.
How Much Bull Will People Swallow About Libya?
Submitted on May 25, 2011By Chris Shaw - rabble.ca
The question is not about the right of the Libyan people to rise up against oppression, but whether it is actually being done by them on their own behalf or is a convenience of western governments eager to capture yet more oil for their consumer economies. Much of the left seems to have glommed onto the first half of this, all the while letting their critical senses ignore the second. For the powers that be, [it] can't be much sweeter than having so-called "lefties" cheering on your military adventures in the name of human rights.
Greenpeace: Corporations 'Govern' Our Desires, So Let's Get Greenwashing
Submitted on May 25, 2011Even though I've been critical of Greenpeace for some time now, it still irked me when I read [their] statement...Basically, I take it to mean the following: corporations rule the world, and so we're going to "fight" so that they will become greener, friendlier firms with better ads and even smilier faces. Greenpeace might as well be greening jails at this point.
Councillor Jang Advises Downtown Eastside to Bug Him
Submitted on May 25, 2011Greenpeace: corporations 'govern' our desires, so let's get greenwashing
Submitted on May 24, 2011Earlier this month in a blog post, Amy Larkin, the Solutions Director of Greenpeace USA asked a question of her organziation that many of us have been wondering about.
Throw a Shoe at Obama’s Betrayal
Submitted on May 24, 2011By Ilan Pappe - 23 May 2011
At 4:17pm GMT on Sunday, I threw a shoe at my television screen, aimed at US President Barack Obama, precisely at the moment he began to explain that the reference in his Thursday speech at the State Department to the 1967 borders was in accordance with the Israeli interpretation of these borders...Annexation of Israeli settlement blocs built illegally in the occupied West Bank and the creation of a small Palestinian bantustan in the spaces in between was the essence of Obama’s real vision for peace.
Rallying Against Shale Fracking Around Ontario
Submitted on May 24, 2011Some of us have started to campaign against shale gas fracking around Ontario, Canada. On May 19th, we had a rally outside of a North American shale gas conference in Holiday Inn Sarnia (which actually is located in Point Edward). At our protest, we focused on threats to water supplies. The shale gas conference was about profits that corporations could gain by securing U.S. gas exports for the petro-chemical industries in Sarnia-Lambton.
Pulp Dreams
Submitted on May 24, 2011Pictou Mill is Asia Pulp Paper's Latest Acquisition. There Goes The Neighbourhood!
If you thought that the Canadian pulp and paper industry was environmentally irresponsible, you were right. But the new players on the clear-cut block make them look like a bunch of patchouli-scented tree-huggers.
City Councillor Vows to Fix Tickets
Submitted on May 24, 2011DOWNTOWN EASTSIDE - Vancouver City Councillor Kerry Jang met with the Vancouver Area Network of Drug Users today to discuss heavy ticketing in the neighbourhood.
Search for Neskie Manuel Expands Across North America: Reward Offered
Submitted on May 24, 2011May 24, 2011 -- After 15 days, an intensive search of the area around Neskonlith Lake has yet to reveal a clue as to the whereabouts of missing Neskonlith Band Councillor Neskie Manuel.
Resistance in Obama Time: Over 2,600 Activists Arrested in the U.S. Since Election
Submitted on May 24, 2011By BILL QUIGLEY - Counterpunch
Arrests at protests have been increasing each year since 2009. Those arrested include people protesting US wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, Guantanamo, strip mining, home foreclosures, nuclear weapons, immigration policies, police brutality, mistreatment of hotel workers, budget cutbacks, Blackwater, the mistreatment of Bradley Manning, and right wing efforts to cut back collective bargaining.
Downtown Eastside Women’s Centre and Women’s Memorial March Committee Challenge BC Government’s Decision Regarding Missing Women’s Inquiry
Submitted on May 24, 2011May 24, Vancouver Coast Salish Territories – The Downtown Eastside Women’s
Centre and Feb 14th Women’s Memorial March Committee are strongly
condemning the BC government’s decision to not provide funding to support
their participation in the Missing Women’s Inquiry.
Spanish Voters Reject Austerity
Submitted on May 24, 2011On May 22, Spain held regional and municipal elections...Indignant voters said they'd "pursue their protests to force an overhaul of their country's political system"...Conceding defeat, Prime Minister Zapatero admitted hard times caused Spaniards serious problems, exacerbated, he omitted, by imposed neo-liberal austerity.
Republican Lawmaker Says Women Should Plan Ahead for Needing an Abortion After Being Raped: "I Have a Spare Tire"
Submitted on May 24, 2011By Tanya Somanader - May 24, 2011
...[T]his Boy Scout dismissal of rape and incest victims [is] as galling as it is common among [Republicans]. More and more Republican lawmakers are adopting the...“make lemonade” attitude towards pregnancies resulting from rape. This year, one Indiana lawmaker even suggested that women would fake their own rapes to secure an abortion procedure.
Cops Who Broke Photographer's Shoulder at G20 Cleared After 'Investigation' Failed to Identify Them
Submitted on May 24, 2011CBC News - May 24, 2011
The Special Investigations Unit...last week concluded their second investigation and...found no police were criminally responsible, in part because 11 officers who witnessed the incident couldn't identify those who allegedly inflicted the injuries...In the wake of the SIU's findings, critics have accused the Toronto Police Service of fostering a "blue wall of silence"...
Norman Finkelstein on Obama's Middle East Speech 2011 [Video]
Submitted on May 24, 2011By Democracy Now! - May 23, 2011
"Not only is there no difference in content, but there's actually no difference in form [between what Bush said three years ago & what Obama said]. It's the same wording..."
Israel in a Strategic Dead End
Submitted on May 23, 2011By JONATHAN COOK - May 18, 2011
Unlike previous years, this Nakba Day was not simply a commemoration of the catastrophe that befell the Palestinians in 1948...It briefly reminded Palestinians that...they still have the potential to forge a common struggle against Israel...As Israel violently cracked down on [the Nakba] protests...it looked less like a military superpower and more like the proverbial boy with his finger in the dam.
Alleged Obama - Netanyahu Rift
Submitted on May 23, 2011US - Israeli relations are on a rock-solid foundation.
Six Nations Youth Reclaim Old Police Station in 'Ohsweken'
Submitted on May 23, 2011By Krystalline Kraus - May 23, 2011
In the spirit of our ancestors, honouring the memory of all those youth who have died unjustly and in respect to all our relations, We the Six Nations Youth Movement are TAKING ACTION and RECLAIMING the old police station as the temporary site of the Onkwehon:we Youth Centre...We declare that the Band Council superstructure...cannot handpick our representatives nor determine the direction of the Six Nations Youth Movement.
Asians 42 Times More Likely to be Held Under Terror Law in UK
Submitted on May 23, 2011By Vikram Dodd - The Guardian
People from ethnic minorities are up to 42 times more likely than white people to be the target of a counter-terrorism power which allows the stopping and searching of the innocent yet grants them less rights than suspected criminals...The figures have led to accusations that police have resorted to "ethnic profiling"...Those stopped have no right to maintain their silence, and failure to answer questions can be a criminal offence.
Breaking the Gaza Embargo and Israeli Piracy
Submitted on May 23, 2011By Gabriel Matthew Schivone, Huwaida Arraf and Noam Chomsky - May 23, 2011
Threatening to hijack boats in international waters and kill or kidnap passengers is...a serious crime. But Israel’s threats and actual uses of force are nothing new. For decades, Israel has been hijacking international vessels throughout the Mediterranean and kidnapping or killing passengers. To understand the current situation involving civil resistance to Israeli policy, a glance at Israel’s aggressive history in international waters is in order.
Extending Key Patriot Act Provisions
Submitted on May 23, 2011Extending Patriot Act provisions solidifies domestic repression at the same time America's imperial agenda denies democratic freedoms abroad - exposing a rogue president's hypocritical promise of change.
Why Liberal Sellouts Attack Prophets Like Cornel West
Submitted on May 23, 2011By Chris Hedges - May 23, 2011
The liberal class...prefers comfort and privilege to justice, truth and confrontation. Its guiding ideological stance is determined by what is most expedient to the careers of its members...Those who expose this moral cowardice and collaboration with corporate power are always ruthlessly thrust aside.
On Community Support and Solidarity
Submitted on May 23, 2011By Julian Ichim - May 19 2011
Sitting in court today, watching my fiancée Kelly Pflug Back...who is facing charges stemming from the g20, I was surprised to look around the court room and see that other than myself there was only one other person there for support...[Kelly] stated that she wasn’t surprised at all. Since her house arrest most of her “allies” have not visited, phoned or even emailed her...Many of her former comrades who have known her for a long time are now denouncing her and many of those who do “support” her don’t even have time to send her an email.
Challenging Harper's Irrationality
Submitted on May 23, 2011By Murray Dobbin - May 23, 2011
In observing Stephen Harper...I have often been reminded of the line from Shakespeare: "The first thing we do, let's kill all the lawyers." Replace lawyers with scientists and you capture the role that the irrational plays in the politics of the prime minister...It may be only a slight exaggeration to suggest that if science supports something, there is a good chance Harper will oppose it.
What NATO is Doing to Libya
Submitted on May 23, 2011By PATRICK COCKBURN - May 23, 2011
One dispiriting outcome of the Libyan uprising is that the future of Libya is decreasingly likely to be determined by Libyans. Foreign intervention is turning into an old-style imperial venture. Much the same thing happened in Iraq in 2003 and in Afghanistan in the past few years. In Iraq, the US invasion to overthrow Saddam Hussein...soon turned into what many Iraqis saw as a foreign occupation.
Breaking the Silence Takes the Fight to Vancouver
Submitted on May 23, 2011Nova Scotia's Wyanne Sandler gives an update from the Goldcorp AGM
Wyanne Sandler isn't about to give up.
Sandler is coordinator for the Maritimes-based Breaking the Silence Network, who worked with a coalition of groups to introduce a shareholder resolution at the Goldcorp annual general meeting to voluntarily suspend operations at one of the company’s most controversial gold ventures in Latin America.
Help us train more journalists!
Submitted on May 23, 2011One more reason to join during Membership Month!
"A healthy democracy is dependent on a lively diverse public sphere where citizens can consider and discuss issues that affect their lives. The Dominion provides a fresh, alternative voice that is often absent in mainstream media."
shelter, chaos, occupations
Submitted on May 22, 2011A VMC review from struggles around the world over the last month, with a focus on housing issues.
Rallying against shale fracking around Ontario
Submitted on May 22, 2011Some of us have started to campaign against shale gas fracking around Ontario.
More on Wikileaks Cables about Canada
Submitted on May 22, 2011Over the past bunch of months I've been reading as many cables from the Wikileaks Cablegate release as I can. Mostly I try and read the ones about Latin America, and I have a list where I post updates on these cables on an irregular basis.
The beginning of the end for the Gateway freeway megaproject: NFPR Defeated
Submitted on May 22, 2011The Gateway freeway megaproject suffered a major defeat on May 19, 2011 when intense opposition from New Westminster residents led to the cancellation of the North Fraser Perimeter Road (NFPR) which would have cost in the neighbourhood of $1 billion. This short video shows the surprise announcement.
They Can’t Kill Our Spirits: Post-G20 State Repression in Southern Ontario
Submitted on May 22, 2011May 21, 2011 - Vancouver Media Co-op
The recent wave of repression against anarchists in Southern Ontario comes as no surprise considering recent anarchist organizing in the region...With the growing strength of anarchists, state repression will intensify no matter how “safe” the practices are of those involved. That being said, it’s important to be taking intelligent steps towards keeping ourselves safe while understanding that repression is inevitable.
Killings, Detentions and Torture in Egypt
Submitted on May 22, 2011Egypt remains a brutal police state.
Obama Rejects Independent Palestinian State, Says U.S. Committment to Israel "Ironclad"
Submitted on May 22, 2011May 22, 2011 - Al Jazeera
Barack Obama...has rejected Palestinian plans to seek statehood at the United Nations, and said Washington's commitment to Israel's security is "ironclad"..."No vote at the United Nations will ever create an independent Palestinian state...Israel's legitimacy is not a matter for debate."
Immigrants for Sale
Submitted on May 22, 2011By Axel Caballero - Wednesday 18 May 2011
Georgia is the latest state to pass an anti-immigrant bill like SB1070...Georgia is also home to the largest private prison in the country. Coincidence? Not even close...It's hardly a secret that private prison corporations...have been at it -- deliberately promoting and designing laws aimed at incarcerating immigrants and turning the prison system into an incredibly lucrative business.
British Former Gitmo Detainee Denied Entry to Canada
Submitted on May 22, 2011By Michelle Shephard - May 20, 2011
A well-traveled British human rights activist and former Guantanamo Bay detainee said he was barred from boarding a direct flight from London to Toronto Friday because of concerns the aircraft could be diverted to the U.S....“They said to me the reason why they would not board me and take me to Canada is because, in the unlikely event they were rerouted to America, there could be a security concern...”
Voices on Climate Justice V
Submitted on May 21, 2011Ellen Gabriel on the indigenous struggle in Kanesatake against corporate mining.
Audio reports on struggles for environmental justice, produced for broadcast on campus/community radio stations globally, featuring voices from around the world engaged in front-line struggles for climate justice.
Voices on Climate Justice III
Submitted on May 21, 2011Diana Bronson outlining the global environmental threat represented by geoengineering
Audio reports on struggles for environmental justice, produced for broadcast on campus/community radio stations globally, featuring voices from around the world engaged in front-line struggles for climate justice.
Mixed Reactions to Obama's Middle East Speech
Submitted on May 21, 2011The Arab street isn't fooled by Obama's hypocrisy.
Turning the Camera: Why Are Cops Allowed to Film Citizens, But Citizens Not Allowed to Film Police Brutality?
Submitted on May 21, 2011By David Sirota - May 20, 2011
What's good for the police apparently isn't good for the people -- or so the law enforcement community would have us believe when it comes to surveillance...That's a concise summary of a new trend...the trend whereby law enforcement officials have been trying to prevent civilians from using cellphone cameras in public places as a means of deterring police brutality.
On the Assassination of Osama bin Laden: There is Much More to Say
Submitted on May 21, 2011By Noam Chomsky - May 20, 2011
The bin Laden operation could have been the spark that set off a conflagration, with dire consequences, particularly if the invading force had been compelled to fight its way out, as was anticipated...Whatever the motive was, it could hardly have been security. As in the case of the “supreme international crime” in Iraq, the bin Laden assassination illustrates that security is often not a high priority for state action, contrary to received doctrine.
Are you sweet on independent media?
Submitted on May 21, 2011There's still two more days to sign up as a sustaining member & be entered in the draw for fair trade organic chocolate, baking ingredients and juices!
Then you're in luck! There's still two more days to sign up as a sustaining member of the Media Co-op and be entered in the draw for $100 worth of fair trade organic chocolate, baking ingredients and juices from Camino!
Ann Hansen on Canada's prison expansion
Submitted on May 21, 2011Former urban guerrilla connects neo-liberal capital with the prison system
This audio recording of Ann Hansen, on the subject of Canada's prison expansion, was recorded on May 12th in Kingston Ontario. Hansen is a former urban guerrilla with the group Direct Action.
Consumer Reports Misleads Consumers About Psychiatry
Submitted on May 21, 2011By Allan M. Leventhal - May 21st, 2011
The Tuesday, May 17...Washington Post carried a Consumer Reports Insights article on depression. The article’s commentary regarding depression has little to do with insight, health, or science. In fact, the article is a very good illustration of how disinformation routinely is disseminated to the public. It is an unabashed commercial for psychiatry that overstates how psychiatrists function, ignores their limitations, and fails to report on problems with psychiatric treatment.
Britain’s Public Health System Faces Destruction
Submitted on May 20, 2011By Chris Marsden - WSWS
Britain’s Conservative/Liberal Democrat government has set out plans for the destruction of the National Health Service as a universal and comprehensive service free at the point of delivery...Workers will soon find themselves entitled only to a basic menu of treatments, as under the US system of managed care, and ultimately will have to depend on an insurance-based system. These measures will cost tens of thousands their good health, even their lives.
Update on the Search for Neskie Manuel - Need Volunteers this Long Weekend
Submitted on May 20, 2011May 20, 2011
Neskie Manuel's family has sustained an organized search for Neskie, with the support of many volunteer searchers, including the Skeetchestn Fire Department.
On the Chopping Block: Federal Worker Pensions
Submitted on May 20, 2011The U.S. plan to incrementally steal federal worker pensions.
Lots of Rhetoric, But Very Little Help
Submitted on May 20, 2011By Robert Fisk - Znet
It was a kind of Second Coming...Cairo re-pledged, another crack at the Middle East, as boring and as unfair as all the other ones, with lots of rhetoric about the Arab revolutions which Obama did nothing to help. Some of it was positively delusional...Of course, there was the usual rhetoric bath for Libya, Syria, Iran, the usual suspects...A creature from Mars would think that the man had helped to bring about the revolutions in the Middle East rather that sat primly to one side in the hope that the wretched dictators might survive.
Wirikuta is not Negotiable: No Mine on Sacred Land
Submitted on May 19, 2011People from all corners of the continent came together this morning in downtown Vancouver to make a stand outside of the Annual General Meeting of First Majestic Silver, a company that plans to build a silver mine in the Mexican state of San Luis Potosi, near Wirikuta, territory sacred to the Wixarika people.
Voices on Climate Justice II
Submitted on May 19, 2011Patrick Bond on climate justice and protests against the UN climate summit Durban
Audio reports on struggles for environmental justice, produced for broadcast on campus/community radio stations globally, featuring voices from around the world engaged in front-line struggles for climate justice.
Stealing Palestinian Land Dunam by Dunam
Submitted on May 19, 2011Israel is incrementally stealing Palestinian land.
Why Religious Conservatives Are Obsessed With Israel
Submitted on May 19, 2011By Joshua Holland - May 18, 2011
[Glen] Beck's newfound adoration for Israel represents a convergence of right-wing ideologies that is in fact quite dangerous. Beck's trying to turn an audience of very low-information viewers into hawkish “pro-Israel” hardliners who will "stand with Israel" even against long-standing US foreign policy -- they'll support more settlements and oppose the "roadmap" if their beloved leader tells them to.
Canadian Postal Workers Fight Concessions
Submitted on May 19, 2011By Greg Macdougall - May 19, 2011
"This is a fight against an ideology from the government, from banks, that big businesses should make more, and people should live on poverty wages. I have wages that could help my children go to university -- not pay for it, not those kind of wages -- but help my children be able to get higher education. What they're talking about now are wages that are just for survival, they're not a wage to support a family."
- Canadian Union of Postal Worker's 2nd national vice-president Lynn Bue
U.S. Justice Department Refuses to Investigate New Evidence: Who Ordered the Kent State Shootings?
Submitted on May 19, 2011By LINN WASHINGTON, Jr. - May 19, 2011
Three days after President Barack Obama visited Ground Zero in New York City on May 5th with his message of "justice being done" with the slaying of terrorist Osama bin Laden, disturbing news broke about this administration's blocking of a quest for justice in the infamous May 1970 killing of four Kent State students...Those four students fell in a barrage of gunfire on May 4, 1970 by Ohio National Guardsmen who opened fire during a peaceful protest against the Vietnam War on Kent State's campus.
Canadians Secretly Added to U.S. Security List: WikiLeaks
Submitted on May 19, 2011May 18, 2011 - CBC News
The Canadian Security Intelligence Service, Canada's principal intelligence agency, routinely transmits to U.S. authorities the names and personal details of Canadian citizens who are suspected of, but not charged with, what the agency refers to as "terrorist-related activity"...The criteria used to turn over the names are secret, as is the process itself.
America's Student Loan Racket: Soaring Default Rates
Submitted on May 19, 2011Robbing students to enrich financial interests.
Israel Actions "Surpass Barbarism of Apartheid South Africa": Palestine Solidarity Campaign of South Africa
Submitted on May 19, 2011Wednesday, May 18, 2011 - Electronic Intifada
"Those of us who lived through and struggled against apartheid South Africa consider the actions of the Israeli state to surpass even the barbarism of apartheid South Africa. Israel is already considered a pariah state in the eyes of most of humanity...From our own struggle we know that repression breeds resistance. We are confident that Israel’s actions, the cause of untold misery and hardship for Palestinians today will also be the downfall of the racist Israeli state tomorrow."
Wikileaks Cable Exposes Canadian Duplicity in Iraq War
Submitted on May 19, 2011By Carl Bronski - WSWS
A classified diplomatic note provided to the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) by Wikileaks shows that on March 17, 2003 — just two days prior to the “shock and awe” onslaught launched against Iraq by American, British and allied militaries — Canadian foreign affairs officials told Washington that Canada’s armed forces could be “discreetly” deployed in support of the invasion of Iraq.
Israel's Children’s Court
Submitted on May 19, 2011By Ilan Pappe - May 19, 2011
The children are dressed in brown or orange prisoners’ uniforms. ‘Chained feet. Shackled hands, one hand shackled to that of another boy’...‘Some of them are so small that their feet wave in the air when they are seated on the bench.’
goldcorp: we don't want your dirty gold!
Submitted on May 19, 2011Goldcorp AGM confronted on human rights and environment abuses
Submitted on May 18, 2011Canadian mining company Goldcorp - accused of human rights & environmental abuse in Guatemala - faced what may be its largest protest yet at its annual general meeting in Vancouver today.
Why We Don't Welcome the Visit of the British Queen
Submitted on May 18, 2011Tuesday, May 17, 2011 - Workers Solidarity Movement
There is a drive to normalise the British occupation of the six counties and partition. It is part of a wider pattern to integrate Ireland into the loose alliance of imperialist nations. There has always been a desire on behalf of the British state, the USA and the European Union to engage Ireland as a junior partner in the imperialist club. The ending of the war in the north and the gradual normalisation of relations between Britain and Ireland has allowed an acceleration of this process. The visit of Britain's Queen Elizabeth is all part of it.
"Knowing the Land is Resistance" Summer Tour Seeking Hosts
Submitted on May 18, 2011Bring the Seeds of Resistance Tour to Your Town!
This summer (early June to late August), Knowing the Land is Resistance (KLR) Collective will be doing some traveling, to explore wild spaces throughout the Southern Ontario region and to connect with the people who love them. Over the past couple of years we’ve been giving workshops and working to deepen our knowledge of the land where we live. Now we want to take these experiences on the road! We are currently looking for people interested in hosting us in their towns and helping to organize workshops there.
Spain’s Tahrir Square
Submitted on May 18, 2011By Pablo Ouziel - May 18, 2011
As people across the Arab world continue their popular struggle for justice, peace and democracy, Spain’s disillusioned citizens have finally begun to catch on as well. Slow at first, hopeful that Spain’s dire economic conditions would magically correct themselves, the Spanish street has finally begun to understand that democratic and economic justice and peace will not come from the pulpits of the country’s corrupt political elite.
Did NATO Massacre Libyan Religious Leaders?
Submitted on May 18, 2011By THOMAS C. MOUNTAIN - May 18, 2011
...[O]n Friday, May 13, over 150 of Libya’s most senior Imams gathered in Brega to hold a peace conference on how to end the fighting in Libya...Early during the evening of Friday, May 13, NATO forces bombed the conference site, killing at least ten and hospitalizing over 40 Imams...NATO confirmed attacking Brega that evening but claimed it struck a “command and control center”.
America's Appalling Human Rights Record
Submitted on May 18, 2011America defiles human and civil rights.
Why AIPAC is Dangerous for Jews
Submitted on May 18, 2011By ALICE ROTHCHILD - Counterpunch
US Jews are increasingly uncomfortable with a lobby that claims to represent us, but is deeply committed to the militaristic and right-wing policies of successive Israeli governments...While maintaining a steady [drum] beat for war against Iran and a world view that "Israel continues to fulfill its ancient obligation as a 'light unto the nations,'" AIPAC lobbyists with their Christian Zionist allies guarantee billions of dollars in military aid for Israel each year...cementing the massive, interconnected, and lucrative military-industrial-security complex that now exists between our two countries.
If a 50-Foot Woman Falls Dead and No One Notices, Does She Make a Sound?
Submitted on May 18, 2011By E.R. Bills - May 18th, 2011
On April 27th, Yvette Vickers, an 82-year-old former Playboy playmate and star of Attack of the 50 Foot Woman, was found dead in her Los Angeles home. Her remains were mummified and she’d been deceased for several months. Her fame and beauty were long gone and she passed away in solitary anonymity.
The Push for a Single Unified North American Regulatory Regime
Submitted on May 18, 2011By Dana Gabriel
Regulatory integration threatens Canadian sovereignty and democracy. Further harmonization with the U.S. could result in Canada losing control over its ability to regulate food safety.
You can’t have it both ways
Submitted on May 18, 2011The effectiveness of public transportation depends on making cities less car-centric
“The car has been a vehicle of the socialization of costs and privatization of profits,” said Yves Engler Tuesday evening at the Divan Orange on St. Laurent.
Vancouver Demo Kicks Back Against Goldcorp
Submitted on May 18, 2011Mining is risky business, corporate greed will not go unchallenged
An ebullient band of demonstrators broke the corporate routine of Vancouver's business district this morning, bursting into the streets with signs, whistles, props, baby carriages, bicycles, a thirty-foot banner and a marching band in tow.
The Nakba: What Does It Mean in Human Terms?
Submitted on May 18, 2011By SONJA KARKAR - May 17, 2011
The Nakba is the Palestinian catastrophe. It means upheaval, violence and cataclysmic loss; it describes the terror, which drove almost one million people out of their homeland, as well as the perpetual terror in exile – displaced, dispossessed, stateless, lost and forbidden to return; it remains the multiplying injustice of another people's sin burgeoning in our collective silence.
Afghanistan: Twelve Killed at Protest Over NATO Raid
Submitted on May 18, 2011Wednesday, May 18, 2011 - Common Dreams
At least 12 people have been shot and killed by security forces in northern Afghanistan during a protest against a NATO-led raid...The clashes with security forces in the city of Taloqan left 80 others injured...Four people, two of them women, were killed in the NATO-led raid. NATO said they were insurgents. Protesters and local police say all were civilians.
Newt Gingrich Wants to Make America "Like Texas"
Submitted on May 18, 2011By Peter Montgomery - AlterNet
In his presidential campaign announcement on Sean Hannity’s Fox News Channel show last week, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich praised job creation in Texas and said he’d been talking to Texas Gov. Rick Perry. "I know how to get the whole country to resemble Texas”...That could go down as the worst campaign promise ever.
The International Criminal Court: An Imperial Tool
Submitted on May 18, 2011Since being established in 1945, the leadership of the ICC has done nothing to deter war, human rights abuses, or other high crimes of powerful member states, notably Western ones and Israel, repeatedly committing crimes of war and against humanity with impunity.
UK: Government Issues Guidelines to Deal with Suicide Threats by Disabled and Jobless
Submitted on May 18, 2011By Robert Stevens - 18 May 2011
The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has issued official guidance on how to deal with a claimant who threatens suicide...Such ghoulish advice is being given out in anticipation of the human suffering and despair due to the Conservative-Liberals government’s £100 billion cuts in public spending. Millions of people’s lives will be devastated...“A lot of people think these people are crying wolf to get their money, but that’s not the case. They are suffering from real problems and can’t face it any more.”
Canada’s Election: Stupid Is as Stupid Does
Submitted on May 18, 2011By Greg Felton - Dissident Voice
By any rational standard, Stephen Harper and his minions should have been obliterated at the polls on May 2; instead, they will form a majority government based on 40% of the popular vote. Canada’s antiquated electoral system has produced many “minority majorities” and managed to survive, but never one so contemptuous of the law, Canadian institutions or Parliament itself.
Slutwalk: To March or Not to March
Submitted on May 18, 2011By Harsha Walia - May 18, 2011
Slutwalk...runs the risk of facilitating the dominant discourse of "liberated" women as only those women wearing mini-skirts and high heels in/on their way to professional jobs. In reality, capitalism mediates the feminist façade of choice by creating an entire industry that commodifies women's sexuality and links a woman's self-esteem and self-worth to fashion and beauty. Slutwalk itself consistently refuses any connection to feminism and fixates solely around liberal questions of individual choice...
Slutwalk: To March or Not to March
Submitted on May 18, 2011Slutwalk – To March or Not to March
This piece was originally posted on Rabble.ca here http://rabble.ca/news/2011/05/slutwalk-march-or-not-march
June 10th, Ottawa: Give the Tories the Welcome They Deserve!
Submitted on May 17, 2011Tuesday, 17 May 2011 - Ainfos
On June 10th, 2011, Prime Minister Stephen Harper will address the Conservative Party of Canada (CPC) National Convention in downtown Ottawa...Harper's address to the gathered Conservative Party members will be his first major address after winning a majority government in the last election. We invite all those opposed to Harper's right-wing agenda to come together on Friday, June 10th, and make clear to the Conservative Party that we will not sit idly by while they attack our communities.
