Worker Bashing 101
For those people on your Christmas list who think you’re full of hot air when you complain that there has been a concerted attack on workers in the last few decades, here are a few examples of demonizing rhetoric to introduce them to, courtesy of Adrian MacNair: We don’t need no stinkin’ unions | National [...]
Harper Ignores Positive Trade Opportunity: ALBA
Trade has occurred for thousands of years, not just in the capitalist context of the last few hundred years, and not just in the current neoliberal, free trade context of the last 30 years. For over five years I have been tracking Latin America’s ALBA, the Bolivarian Alliance for the Americas, as an alternative model [...]
Capitalists: The Flat-Earthers of the 21st Century
I’m not just talking about the old white guy with the mustache and top hat in Monopoly. I’m talking about all the folks who think the market will save us and that the economy must grow and that to be critical of all that is to be unpatriotic or a threat to social order. And [...]
Eco-Leaders Kerala, Sikkim and Montgomery County
In an era when effective global agreements on addressing climate breakdown are still elusive, it’s encouraging to see sub-national groups taking a lead. Kerala and Sikkim in India and Montgomery County in Maryland are working on organic farming and carbon taxes. The southern Indian state of Kerala has officially announced a new farming policy which [...]
BC NDP Convention Minus 5 Days: Why We’re the Natural Governing Party of BC
I had this amazing daydream a few weeks after we failed to win the election last May. The NDP is the naturally governing party of BC, so when the legislature was to open earlier this fall/summer, the NDP MLAs should stroll in there and behave as if we actually represent the poorest 95% of British [...]
Why the Windsor CUPE Strike Will Inspire You
Read on and enrich your spirit for progressive social change, understand the need to build solidarity on the ground, and learn about the threat of cyber-scabbing! The strike is an instance rare in the current climate of workers’ struggling for a political principle rather than immediate wage demands. As such, it has much to teach [...]
Peak Oil Will Kill Neoliberal Globalization: More Support
A year ago today, I wrote about how a few years earlier at lunch with friends I was thinking that peak oil will kill neoliberal globalization. Last year, there was a piece in Report on Business about just that, making me feel mighty vindicated. It’s nice to see corporate media affirming your views. A few [...]
Sears is into Union Busting in the Lower Mainland
Taking a cue from the morally-repugnant labour tactics of Vancouver’s NPA, Sears has locked out IBEW 213 after they refused a take-it-or-leave-it concession-filled contract without even bringing it to their membership. Sears has also been involved in impeding unionization in Belleville in 2006. I’m sure Sears will blame it on the strong Canadian dollar. Service [...]
The End of "Mayor" Sam Sullivan
Welcome Peter Ladner, NPA’s next mayoral candidate. Sam Sullivan has unofficially ended his term as mayor at 11:03AM today as CUPE announced a tentative settlement in North Vancouver. We have passed the tipping point in the regional dispute. Sullivan’s strategy has been absurd, ill-conceived and ill-informed at best, arrogant and destructive at worst. In fact, [...]
Class War: A Labour Day Greeting Card!
Last year at Labour Day I wrote about how I began reading Mark Steyn’s pearls of shit. He was waxing on about how the world is so great and technology will save us and humans can trump an instant karma planet that may not endure us much longer. We should all stop whining and have [...]
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