Briarpatch Magazine

Magazine

Anatomy of an anti-trafficking policy campaign

Asian massage workers have been engaged in a battle with the town council intent on shutting down their businesses.

by Chanelle Gallant and Elene Lam – 13 min read
Magazine

“Safe supply is the future”

by Dawn Paley – 14 min read

From drug users in Vancouver to opium poppy growers in Mexico, activists across borders say safe and legal drugs will save lives.
Magazine

The right to return to work

by Emma Arkell – 9 min read

At the beginning of the pandemic, the Pacific Gateway and Hilton Metrotown hotels laid off their workers – then refused to hire them back. Hotel workers are fighting for their jobs, and for the future of the hotel industry after the pandemic.
Magazine

The myth of police as “embattled heroes”

by James Wilt – 14 min read

The Winnipeg police union says officers are constantly under attack by everything from “gang members” to video games to bedbugs. It’s a strategy to persuade the public that the only solution is more police and more money.

The Latest

Magazine

Divestment and beyond

by Sydney Lang and Amanda Harvey-Sánchez – 11 min read

Lessons for the climate justice movement from the University of Toronto fossil fuel divestment campaign.
Online-only

Where there’s smoke, there’s no fire

by A.J. Withers and Amie Tsang – 8 min read

New Freedom of Information documents show the City of Toronto’s efforts to control the media narrative around encampment evictions last summer – inflating the number of fires in encampments and using media exclusion zones.
Announcement

Announcing Briarpatch’s Disability Justice Issue

by Saima Desai – 3 min read

In our September/October 2022 issue, Briarpatch is partnering with the Disability Justice Network of Ontario to publish a special issue about disability justice.
Online-only

No more pandemic platitudes

by Martha Paynter – 6 min read

In her new COVID How-Not-To manual, Nora Loreto takes a month-by-month look at the first year of the pandemic – and the pro-business politicians and docile press that led to its mismanagement.

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Current Issue

May/June 2022

From drug users in Vancouver to opium poppy growers in Mexico, activists say safe and legal drugs will save lives. Plus: lessons for the climate justice movement from the University of Toronto fossil fuel divestment campaign. How police unions win more money and weapons by presenting officers as "embattled heroes." Strategies for building feminist, anti-racist unions. A reading list on Indigenous persistance, and more.

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Well-Read This Week

Magazine

The birds shall return: Imagining Palestinian feminist futurities

by Tara Alami and Rawan Nabil – 10 min read
Magazine

Talking consent

by Sophie Jean – 13 min read
Magazine

A short introduction to the Two Row Wampum

by Tom Keefer – 4 min read
Magazine

The Deep

by Andrew W. Boyd – 10 min read