What is Politics, Re-Spun?

Journalistic objectivity is a myth. “Fair and Balanced” is a lie. The “No Spin Zone” is the All Spin Zone.

Corporate-concentrated media is bad for democracy and good for keeping people afraid, disempowered, immobilized, isolated and consumers rather than citizens.

So it is important to de-spin the political and re-spin it for social, economic and political justice.

More reflections are worth your time here.

WordPress is a great web platform because open source is powerful, competent, free of global corporate manipulation and some of the best of the altruism of the internet.

Stephen Elliott-Buckley is a husband, father, former suburban Vancouver high school English and Social Studies teacher who changed careers because the BC Liberal Party has been working hard to ruin public education. I have various English and Political Science degrees and I’ve been writing political, social and economic editorials regularly since April 2004. Stephen is in Twitter, Miro and iTunes, and the email thing, and in a limited capacity in Facebook, and at his website, dgiVista.org.

Sallie Caufield: How do you illuminate a continuing existence in a few short sentences, a handful of nouns and adjectives?  Carved in stone:  I am a mom, a Christian Lefty and animal lover who strives for social justice, loves freely, trusts quickly, laughs loudly, abhors closed minds and is easily moved to tears by both righteous anger and moments of intense joy, wonder and beauty. Anything else is either in flux or better written by Dorothy Parker.  I blog, Tweet and Facebook as the spirit moves me.

Anna Davey is known for her distinctive colouring and reclusive habits, the wild A. Davey is a species well-adapted to urban environments. A prolific breeder, this species subsists mainly on pho, gin and the internet: http://disgracingthenation.wordpress.com.

 

 

Lidia Frech: Pacific therianthropic snail seeks help in navigating along the confluence of multiple streams of thought. Trying not to end up as squishy goop under someone’s boot. Status listed as endangered. Habitat threatened by hydrofracking, logging of ancient forests, parasitic fish farms and cynical invasive species. Hobbies: Nuclear arms control, cyber and robotics warfare.

 

T. A. Everitt is a freelance writer and comedienne, who currently lives in a hellish limbo with one foot in Chilliwack and the other in Winnipeg. When not tipping cows or inciting corn fights, she spends much of her time herding her two young children and traveling gypsy husband. Originally from Kitimat B.C., Everitt has lived and worked in Richmond, Vancouver and Toronto, as well as several small isolated native communities in far north of Ontario and Manitoba. After pursuing a confusing cocktail of educational pursuits in Psychiatric Nursing, Computer Programming & Systems analysis and Economics, Everitt still doesn’t know what she wants to be when she grows up. One day, however, she hopes to nuzzle Steven Harper’s sweater vest in person.

Kevin Harding is an MA candidate in the graduate program in Political Science at York University in Toronto. Originally from Port Coquitlam, BC, he still gets confused in Toronto because there aren’t mountains to the north, and he hopes to return to the Wet Left West Coast one day. Kevin’s main research focuses on issues of agency and subjectivity in contemporary politics – which is why you’ll read his writings on protest and democratic engagement a lot and wonder why he’s so angry. He’s also interested in education policy, because he’s in grade 17 or 18 by now.

Jasmin Mujanovic is a PhD candidate in Political Science from York University in Toronto, Canada. Originally from Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzegovina, he has additionally resided in Croatia, Slovenia, Germany and now, of course, Canada. He is a proud Wobbly, anarchist, activist, raconteur and accordion player-cum-enthusiast. He has been published in the New Left Project, the Industrial Worker, the Victoria Street Newz, The/La Source, as well as numerous smaller publications for both political commentary and recreational poetry. He is deathly afraid of moths.

Julie MacArthur is a PhD Candidate at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver, BC. She spends most of her time researching the social and solidarity economy and energy politics in Canada, but leaves the computer every once in a while to explore Stanley Park and the pubs (not necessarily in that order) of Vancouver’s west end.

 

Peter G. Prontzos immigrated to Canada as a Vietnam War resister. In addition to working for peace (he was a member of Vancouver’s “Peace and Justice Committee”), his priorities are the environmental and social justice. He ran twice for the NDP. Prontzos has written for The Globe & Mail, the Georgia Straight, and the Vancouver Sun, among others, and is working on a book about the human condition. He teaches political science at Langara College.

 

Alex Tse writes when no one’s looking. She believes in the true meaning of hipster and she’d like it if you became her vegan cupcake friend. Find her on the internetz @alexnotangry and http://alexnotangry.wordpress.com.