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Catastrophism: A Climate Justice Activist’s Perspective

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By Harold Lavender

Review of Sasha Lilley (ed.), Catastrophism: The Apocalyptic Politics of Collapse and Rebirth (PM Press, 2012)

Images and talk of catastrophes are pervasive in today’s world. Much discussion of the subject ignores issues of social justice and is not very favourable to a left-wing perspective. Yet the spectre of catastrophic climate change haunts the future. Climate change is wreaking destruction on many, is getting worse and poses a potential threat to life on the planet. This raises many serious questions about how the Left should respond.

Can Ontario Get Child Care?

Can Ontario Get Child Care?

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By Donald Hughes

At the recent Conservative convention in Calgary, Stephen Harper referred back to one of his first acts as Prime Minister, which was to demolish the national child care framework. Harper referred to the child care program as “lobbyists, academics and bureaucrats” and suggested that now the money (in the form of a small tax credit) was in the hands of “Mom and Dad.”

Defederate or Organize? The Student Left and the Canadian Federation of Students

Defederate or Organize? The Student Left and the Canadian Federation of Students

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By Doug Nesbitt

A September 4 press release published on Rabble has once again stirred debate among left-wing student activists about the Canadian Federation of Students. A network of left-wing students are at the forefront of a coordinated effort across 15 different campuses to gather sufficient signatures to initiate referendum campaigns on CFS membership.

Other left-wing students have responded with incredibly sharp criticisms, the most incendiary being the claim that defederation will actually aid the Right on campuses.

Chris Hedges: From Moral Gadfly to Eclectic Radical

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By Jase Short

Chris Hedges is one of the most celebrated intellectuals of the contemporary US Left. A former New York Times reporter who essentially lost his job for taking a public stand against the invasion of Iraq, Hedges straddles the line between cynical doomsayer and principled critic of mainstream politics. In spite of many lapses in judgment in his intellectual work, the general thrust of his political standpoint is a welcome relief to those who have a hard time finding intellectuals who take the crises of global capitalism seriously.

Unifor’s Founding Convention: The Predictable and the Unexpected

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By Lindsay Hinshelwood

Over the Labour Day weekend two of Canada’s largest industrial unions, the Canadian Auto Workers (CAW) and the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers (CEP), merged to become the country’s largest private sector union, Unifor.

Thoughts on How to Stay in the Struggle

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By David Camfield

Being a fighter for radical change can be meaningful and rewarding. But it isn’t easy. This is especially true when people’s everyday experience doesn’t give them any reason to believe that radical change is possible, which is the situation in Canada and many other places today. Political attrition – people rejecting the possibility of radical social transformation, or giving up any kind of political activity at all – becomes inevitable (though some people who give up or become inactive do come back when circumstances change in their individual lives or in society).

Building a Movement: Reflections from the Québec Student Strike

Building a Movement: Reflections from the Québec Student Strike

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Montreal activist and artist Stefan Christoff’s zine Le fond de l’air est rouge [The essence of the air is red], a collection of articles about the Québec “Red Square” mass movement of 2012, has recently been published by Howl! Arts Collective. New Socialist Webzine interviewed Stefan about the movement, its effects and its lessons. We present the interview along with a series of political art works in the online exhibit by the École de la Montagne Rouge.

Q1: The 2012 student movement in Québec grew into a broader popular movement of a kind that hasn’t happened in Canada or Québec for decades. What role did radical left students of different kinds play in building the movement among university and CEGEP students?

Certainly the Québec student strike occurred outside of the world of official politics, far from a stage-managed process, the radical energy on the streets carried forward a combative approach that stood in direct confrontation to the structures of economic and political power in Québec society.

Lac-Mégantic: A Social and Ecological Tragedy

Lac-Mégantic: A Social and Ecological Tragedy

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A statement by Le réseau écosocialiste (the Ecosocialist Network)

“The disaster at Lac-Mégantic cannot not be resolved by a strict inquiry, individual accusations, some superficial regulatory modification and false promises of security. This episode is not just a technical problem, but is a springboard for social mobilisation, for political action aimed at both ecological transition and the liberation from the yoke of unscrupulous big business and their accomplices in the Canadian State.”

Québec has just experienced the most brutal ecological catastrophe of its history. On July 6, 2013, a train loaded with 72 cars carrying crude oil derailed during the night. It exploded in downtown Lac-Mégantic, a small Eastern Townships municipality of 6000. A series of explosions and a fire completely destroyed more than 30 buildings including the municipal library, the town’s archives, heritage buildings, businesses and residences. Police have confirmed that 50 people were killed by the blast.

Organizing Against the Flow: Learning from the Greater Toronto Workers’ Assembly

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By Alan Sears

The global slump since 2008 has cast a sharp light on the glaring injustices that characterize global capitalism at every level. Yet there is a horrible gap between the perception that something is wrong and the sense we can do something about it. The greatest challenge anti-capitalists face today is to work towards closing that gap.

Beyond the Double Standard: Towards a Real Liberation Politics

Beyond the Double Standard: Towards a Real Liberation Politics

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By Cinzia Arruzza

A few months ago on the New York subway I saw the most incredible poster, a picture of a crying baby of colour with the words, “Got a good job? I cost thousands of dollars each year”. While I was still recovering from the shock, I saw a similar poster of a little Black girl: “Honestly Mom… chances are he won’t stay with you. What happens to me?”

Environmental Activism After the 2013 BC Election

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By Harold Lavender

This is the second part of a two-part article on ecological politics in BC. The first part, on the provincial election, is here.

The dust has settled on the May 14 provincial election in British Columbia, with Christy Clark’s Liberals once again forming a clear majority government. However, the struggle to stop pipelines and the destructive impact of resource extraction megaprojects remains a very hot issue which is not about to go away. Under the Liberals, we can expect a big push for mega-resource development, with a big focus on exporting liquified natural gas (LNG) to Asia along with an austerity agenda with respect to social and environmental protection programs.

Environmental Activism and the 2013 BC Election — Part 1

Environmental Activism and the 2013 BC Election — Part 1

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By Harold Lavender

Many people were caught off guard by the results of the provincial election in British Columbia on May 14. Prior to the election, the New Democratic Party (NDP) held a large lead in the polls. The incumbent Liberal government seemed in major disarray, and most people assumed the result was a foregone conclusion. The NDP campaigned on the full expectation that it would form the next government.

An Invaluable Book for Teachers

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Review of Lois Weiner, The Future of Our Schools: Teachers Unions and Social Justice (Haymarket, 2012)

By Lisa Descary

Why are the Harper Conservatives so pro-Israel?

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By James Cairns

The Canadian government has been a strong supporter of Israel since the country was founded in 1948 through the expulsion of most of the indigenous Palestinian population from their homes. In its friendly treatment of Israel, Canada has long played an important international role in covering up the violent dispossession of Palestinians and the apartheid system that maintains and normalizes their oppression.

Up Against the Neoliberal Parties: What Should the Left Do? Four Views

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The editors of New Socialist Webzine recently sent the following short description of the situation in which the Left finds itself today to a number of people we respect and asked them for their thoughts. We are glad to publish four responses, from Cindy McCallum Miller, David McNally, Leanne Simpson and Cloé Zawadzki-Turcotte. We welcome additional constructive responses from readers.

Indigenous Feminism Without Apology

Indigenous Feminism Without Apology

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By Andrea Smith

“…Allegiance to ‘America’ or ‘Canada’ legitimizes the genocide and colonization of Native peoples upon which these nation-states are founded. By making anti-colonial struggle central to feminist politics, Native women place in question the appropriate form of governance for the world in general.” Andrea Smith, New Socialist, 2006

In the fall of 2012, four women – Sylvia McAdam, Sheelah McLean, Jessica Gordon, and Nina Wilson, began discussing the implications of the Harper government’s omnibus Bill C-45 for Indigenous rights and the environment. That discussion gave rise to an “Idle No More” Facebook page, followed by teach-ins and rallies in Saskatoon and Regina in November. A national solidarity day on December 10 was the catalyst for a movement that spread across the continent and provoked international expressions of solidarity. Chief Theresa Spence of Attawapiskat First Nation declared a hunger strike the following day, further raising the profile of the movement.

Europe’s Crisis: An Explanation and an Internationalist Alternative

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By Özlem Onaran

Europe is now the centre of the global crisis. It is a crisis of the capitalist system, sweeping across Europe and not limited to just one country. The crisis erupted five years ago under governments of both the traditional Left and Right as they all pursued similar neoliberal policies.

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