A Back-To-School Wishlist for Society
Simply, two things. Let’s make sure our public school system recognizes two things: Our children are priceless individuals with immense capacity to excel, not standardized, interchangeable commodities who can be warehoused in assembly line learning factories. Thinking matters, not just filling up heads with data. A week before the new school year starts is a [...]
Bjork is Our Green, Anti-Privatization Ally
It was a bittersweet day yesterday in the fight against neoliberal globalization. Bjork is helping fight green energy privatization in Iceland while Canada supports global neoliberal resource rape. Prime Minister Harper is sending $130m of our money to AbitibiBowater after Newfoundland and Labrador premier Danny Williams nationalized their assets after the company threatened to bail [...]
A Voice from Haiti, Who We Are Further Victimizing
This morning I wrote about how we and the French are continuing to rip off Haiti 7 months after their earthquake. Today I read about one woman’s experiences. She sounds so much like us. Getting to the human level during these kind of existential events, we always see that “they” are just like “us”. I [...]
How We [and the French] Keep Ripping Off Haiti
It was so nice to see so many billions pledged to help Haiti after its earthquake where the planet kicked the country after it was down from centuries of racist, imperial and neoliberal exploitation. But how much money pledged has shown up? And worse, did you know that Haiti spent more than a century paying [...]
Our Past is Our Future: The Place of Union Mobilization
For generations unions have been profound agents of social change, pursuing some of the noblest of goals, including equity and justice for workers. But changing our world is a different task in this new century. Today we face climate change; increasingly strong anti-union employers and governments; and several generations of young people who have little [...]
The CFS OnePassNow Campaign Defeats BC Liberal Cuts
The Canadian Federation of Students’ One Pass Now campaign has succeeded in forcing the BC Liberal government to fund superior transit options for post-secondary students in BC. But this win is no cause for complacency. The government announced yesterday funding to ensure discounted fares for students around the province. The CFS declared a victory holding [...]
Reports from Haiti by CUPE and the Red Cross
Claude Genereux, Secretary-Treasurer of CUPE, Canada’s largest union, shares his impressions on where Haiti is at 4 months after their devastating earthquake, which compounded the neoliberal economic earthquake Canada and others have been perpetrating on Haiti for decades. Saddest for me is the lack of time and opportunity for children to play. This is why [...]
Liveblogging the “Public Health Care: How can we sustain it?” Forum
The BC Health Coalition is holding the “Public Health Care: How can we sustain it?” forum tonight in Burnaby. Below is the liveblog underneath the description of the event here: We increasingly hear that more private for-profit health care is needed to ensure that our public health care system remains “sustainable”. Is this really true? [...]
Liveblogging the BC Ombudsperson’s Presentation on Seniors’ Care
This afternoon BC Ombudsperson Kim Carter will be speaking to at the BC Health Coaltion’s Seniors’ Forum in Burnaby. She released her interim report in December 2009 called “The Best of Care: Getting It Right for Seniors in British Columbia (Part 1)”. We expect her final report before summer sets in. Her talk starts at [...]
Free Public Forum: Public Health Care: How can we sustain it?
If there’s internet available, I’ll be live-blogging this. If not, watch for a blog piece at the end! The BCHC is excited to host a free public forum that will explore the motivation behind, and implications of, expanded for-profit health care in BC and Canada. Friday May 14th 7:00pm Firefighters Conference 6515 Bonsor Street Burnaby [...]
Fixing Institutionalized Education
Having taught high school for 12 years, then TAing at university during my MA, I’ve seen more than my share of human carnage in an increasingly institutionalizing education ‘industry” as kids endure the K-12 system then try to function in the world or in post-secondary institutions after graduation. Two core problems increasingly vex the system [...]
The HST Is Actually a Tax Cut?
What do neoliberals like to do? Sell everything owned by the public. Reduce government operations through privatization. Defund the government so it can’t do much anymore. Marketize all things that rest within the realm of community. So when we heard of the hideous, regressive HST coming to BC, people flipped out because it punishes the [...]
Healthcare Before Olympics: Michael Moore-Style
We’re days away from the end of the $8 billion obscene Olympic party. Last year, BC’s health authorities were defunded by $360 million. Cut, cut, cut. Soon the 16-day bash will be over, the guests will leave and we’ll return the empties. Then we’ll walk around the house and tally up the damage. Holes kicked [...]
Danny Williams, Class War, and the Illusion of Choice
I was going to write something about the Newfoundland and Labrador premier skipping to Florida for minor heart surgery. He said, “This is my heart, it’s my health, it’s my choice.” I was going to write about how obvious the two-tier [class war] society is emerging in Canada. I was going to write about how [...]
The Blue Summit Declaration: A Companion to Copenhagen
I was thrilled to read the Blue Summit Declaration that emerged from last weekend’s Blue Summit in Ottawa celebrating the 10th anniversary of Water Watch. As we head into Copenhagen in a few days, it is critical to assert companion declarations about the sanctity of core elements of life and the symbiotic relationship we must recognize with [...]
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