Yves Engler, author of Canada and Israel: Building Apartheid, which begins shipping next week, has asked his publisher, Fernwood Publishing, not to release the book to Chapters Indigo bookstores. Engler’s previous three books have been sold by Canada’s largest bookstore chain.
The New Orleans Saints won Super Bowl 44. I can’t believe I’m even typing the words. Five years ago this was the team considered most likely to be moved to Los Angeles. Four and a half years ago, after the levies broke, the concern was not whether there would be a Saints, but whether there would even be a New Orleans.
December 28, 2009– The Canada Haiti Action Network expresses its grave concern at the November 26 decision by Haiti’s Provisional Electoral Council (Conseil électoral provisoire–CEP) to exclude the Fanmi Lavalas party from planned elections to take place on February 28, 2010.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
More Than 150 Angry Social Assistance Recipients Storm and Occupy Municipal Welfare Offices
OCCUPATION HAPPENING NOW: Metro Hall 55 John Street South-east corner of King and John (two blocks east of Spadina)
COME OUT AND SUPPORT THE ONGOING OCCUPATION. DEMAND THE CITY RELEASE MONEY PEOPLE NEED TO SURVIVE.
I got a visit from CSIS on the afternoon of October 30th (I checked; they were not trick-or-treaters). I haven't had time to write up a public report until now.
Come pick up a copy of the Dominion's special issue on the Vancouver 2010 Olympics, have a drink, and meet some of the editors and contributors.
-- For immediate release --
-> Download the report at http://www.offsettingresistance.ca
A movement is building to shut down the tar sands, one of the most
destructive projects in human history. Decisions are being made about
the strategies that will be used and the goals that will be pursued.
But as the number of people opposing the tar sands grows larger, the
number of people making the crucial decisions is getting smaller --
and closer to the oil and gas industry.
A small, secretive group of insiders has been collaborating with large
American foundations and industry to concentrate decision-making power
concerning anti-tar sands campaigns. Headed by Michael Marx, one of
the architects of the Great Bear Rainforest deal in northwestern
British Columbia, these groups have a track record and a documented
trail of funding relationships that steer them--whether they intend to
or not--into closed-door, backroom deals with industry and government.
The lack of transparency, the absence of any democratic structures,
the questionable sources of funding, and the track record of these
corporate and foundation-funded Environmental NGOs are the subjects of
a new report by Macdonald Stainsby and Dru Oja Jay. Offsetting
Resistance: The effects of foundation funding from the Great Bear
Rainforest to the Athabasca River examines the role of ForestEthics
and other Environmental NGOs in the Great Bear Rainforest deal and in
the Northwest Territories Protected Areas Strategy. From there, it
reveals the hidden structures behind the emerging "North American Tar
Sands Coalition," which seeks to keeps its decision-making body
"invisible to the outside," while funnelling millions of dollars to
Originally published by Straight Goods
Naomi Klein and Avi Lewis, Canadians who made the film The Take in 2004 about worker takeovers in Argentina, are at it again.
In their recent blog posting called "The Cure for Layoffs: Fire the Boss!", they passionately made the case for hostile worker takeovers as a response to the economic crisis. Although they mention worker co-operatives generally, their focus is on mainly on protests, "bossnappings", sit-ins and the like.
Evidently, they touched a nerve. Philosophy professor Joseph Heath wrote an opinion piece in response which appeared in at least four Canadian daily newspapers: "Economics for lefties: Co-ops sound great if you hate big corporations. Not so great if you care about how they work in real life".
Oddly enough, CanWest newspapers printed Heath's response without ever having printed the original Klein and Lewis article. Heath states that, "Klein and Lewis, I must admit, make me a bit crazy. They blame problems on totally fictitious causes, then recommend solutions that are guaranteed not to work. Like co-ops. Co-ops are not a 'cure for layoffs.' They cause unemployment."
Co-op supporters should laugh at his ire, not cry. As Gandhi said: "First they ignore you, then they ridicule you, then they fight you, then you win." If we believe this, then we are three-quarters of the way there!
Of course in the co-operative way, if "we" win, everybody wins. The point would be to get away from having winners and losers. Co-ops are about creating an economy in which people matter more than profit; in which we create an environment in which people are free to discover the gifts that they bring to this world and have a way to develop them and contribute them to the common good.
