Topics – Politics
The way we organize and allocate power — in government, institutions, movements and communities — is at the root of all injustice. From foreign policy to crime and punishment, politics are central to the exercise of authority and oppression, but also to resistance, freedom and self-determination. Here you’ll find stories on imperialism, colonization, sovereignty, migration, electoral politics, law, and the political questions being asked by movements confronting these issues.
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From the jaws of defeat
Four thoughts on social change strategy
Whether we are planning a short-term campaign or the theoretical work of long-term, widespread and systemic social change, the process of strategy development is the same. To begin developing a winning strategy, we must first ask ourselves: what does victory look like?
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The end of the strike?
What is the future of labour’s time-honoured tactic?
Less than two months into their majority mandate, the federal Conservatives passed legislation that left the labour movement reeling. The Harper government’s use of back-to-work legislation to force an end to labour disputes at Air Canada and Canada Post was just the latest blow, however, to the labour movement’s most time-honoured tactic: the strike.
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The confines of compromise
Does the labour movement encourage resistance, or contain it?
Has the labour movement become comfortable in a reactive, and even survivalist, mode of operating? What would a labour movement that strengthened and encouraged resistance and militancy, rather than managed it, look like?
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Crisis in care
Ontario pioneers the privatization of long-term care
As the pioneer of privatized care in Canada, Ontario has opened the doors for a corporate takeover of long-term care homes, resulting in chronic understaffing by profit-seeking multinational providers.
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Armed with knowledge
Saskatchewan’s Labour Issues campaign takes aim
The Labour Issues campaign is broadening the base of people who can speak confidently about these issues, organize their communities, and ultimately make demands on government – regardless of which party happens to be in power.
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The teacher trap
Teaching, child care, and women’s work in the “caring professions”
While teaching duties undoubtedly exceed those of child care, how can teachers defend themselves without participating in the downgrading of “caring professions” more broadly?
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From worker to worker
Labour solidarity with Palestine
Since the 2005 call for solidarity from Palestinian trade unions and civil society organizations, unions all over the world have responded with resolutions and actions to break ties with Israel’s apartheid regime.
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“The best game you can name”
Hockey is no stranger to militarism, but radical fans aren’t about to call the game
Fifteen thousand people pack the seats of the sold-out MTS Centre in Winnipeg. They cheer wildly as the home team Jets rush the puck up through the neutral zone. Cheers erupt louder still as shots are fired on goal, bodies slammed brutally into boards, and pucks are buried deep in the visitor’s net.
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Selling the farm
Canadian-European Trade Agreement threatens food sovereignty
If Harper has his way, CETA – the biggest trade deal since NAFTA – will be finalized by the end of this year. The agreement has largely escaped the attention of the media and food activists, but if gone unchallenged will deal a heavy blow to food sovereignty in this country.
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In defence of the Canadian Wheat Board
The single desk is a source of justice in a volatile industry
Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz and Prime Minister Stephen Harper have declared they will end the Canadian Wheat Board single desk in August 2012. Recklessly turning the clock back a hundred years, this move will leave farmers at the hands of the robber barons of the grain trade who are already more powerful than ever before.
