Alternative News
Articles from non-mainstream as opposed to corporate for profit sources.
Take action today: ban street checks now!
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- Published on Monday, 06 July 2020 10:04
- Written by editor
Dear BCCLA supporter,
Police street checks are racist and illegal. Banning them is a necessary step in ending police harm.
Street checks are a discriminatory practice, with daily impact on Indigenous, Black, and low-income communities. Street checks also have no basis in law.
This injustice has gone on for too
long.
We’ve just launched a petition, and we
need you to join us and pressure the Province of BC, City of
Vancouver, and Vancouver Police Board to ban street checks once and
for all.
Will you add your voice now and demand an immediate ban of all street checks in BC?
As Lama Mugabo, Director of Hogan’s Alley Society, states, “The issue of police street checks is fundamentally connected to anti-Black racism and police violence.”
Indigenous and Black people are significantly over-represented in the numbers of street checks conducted by the Vancouver Police Department (VPD). In 2017, 16% of all street checks were of Indigenous people, despite making up...
The European Automotive Sector – Time to Rethink Mobility!
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- Published on Monday, 06 July 2020 04:46
- Written by editor
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A Socialist Project e-bulletin ... No. 2139 ... July 6, 2020
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The European Automotive Sector – Time to Rethink Mobility!
Manuela Kropp
Every sector of the economy has felt the impact of the coronavirus crisis, and car manufacturing is no exception. There are 12 million EU workers employed in the automotive industry, either directly in production or in parts manufacturing, and the sector accounts for 7 per cent of the union’s GDP. If we look at direct automotive employment as a share of total manufacturing across a selection of EU member states, we can see just how significant the car industry is.
The necessary restructuring of the sector will therefore impact millions of employees and have to contend with a well-organized car lobby. At the height of the crisis (25 March 2020), the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association (ACEA) called for the temporary suspension of stricter CO2 emission standards for passenger cars. This is in spite of the fact that transport accounts for a quarter of the EU’s total CO2 emissions and is the EU’s only sector to have actually seen CO2 emission growth in recent...
Read more: The European Automotive Sector – Time to Rethink Mobility!
The Naked City: Traversing Toronto in Pandemic Times
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- Published on Sunday, 05 July 2020 06:30
- Written by editor
Socialist Interventions Pamphlet ... No. 19 ... July 5, 2020
The Naked City: Traversing Toronto in Pandemic Times
The multiple crises that have come together in the current pandemic harbour great dangers, including rampant Social Darwinism and a move to authoritarian rule. At the same time, they offer openings for all who are looking for emancipatory ways out of the crises. In this conjuncture, Rosa Luxemburg’s dictum “Socialism or Barbarism” is as pertinent as ever. Indeed, it does not take much to reframe it as “Health or Capitalism.” Equally pertinent is the idea that a future worth living can only be built in egalitarian, ecological, and democratic ways, through a combination of popular self-management and socio-ecological planning that might yield a “radical democratization of the economy.”
The premise of the following snapshots, inspired by Stefan Kipfer’s daily walks and bicycle trips in the emptying streets of Toronto, is that to understand the dangers and possibilities of the current situation, one needs to attend to the manifold tensions of everyday life. One way of unearthing these daily disjunctures is to follow Marshall Berman’s advice and read “the signs in the street.”
Stefan Kipfer is a member of...
Read more: The Naked City: Traversing Toronto in Pandemic Times
The song remains the same
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- Published on Saturday, 04 July 2020 07:02
- Written by editor
France: In the Wake of Last Sunday's 'Green Wave'
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- Published on Saturday, 04 July 2020 05:16
- Written by editor
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A Socialist Project e-bulletin ... No. 2138 ... July 4, 2020
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France: In the Wake of Last Sunday’s ‘Green Wave’
Ethan Earle
On Sunday, the 28th of June, voters across France went to the polls to decide the municipal governments of 4,820 communes, including all of the country’s largest cities.
The vote took place a record-breaking 100 days after the first round election, in which around 35,000 communes voted in the EU’s largest single municipal election. With the COVID-19 pandemic forcing a second-round delay -- leaving those municipal governments with no first round winner in a strange limbo at a critical moment -- all eyes were on these results and what they would portend for the future of French politics.
If you’ve seen a single headline about Sunday’s results, it probably alludes to a "green wave" having washed across France. Indeed, lead candidates associated with EELV-The Greens defeated right-wing incumbents in EU capital Strasbourg, third-largest city Lyon, second-largest city Marseille, and important port city Bordeaux, which had been held by the right for more than 70 years.
Looking beneath the surface, we see...
Read more: France: In the Wake of Last Sunday's 'Green Wave'
Upcoming events, public statements, and we're hiring
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- Published on Friday, 03 July 2020 16:16
- Written by editor
Download this newsletter in PDF.
We're hiring!
Are you interested in joining a small and dynamic team serving to advance the peace and social justice concerns of Canadian Quakers? We're currently hiring for two positions: A CFSC Administrator (full-time) and a Finance Assistant (part-time maternity leave).
Both positions will begin working from home due to COVID-19 but will be based at our office in Toronto once it is safe again to do so. The deadline to apply is July 20th. For more info visit our website:
WHO Calls for 'Careful' Review of a New Strain of Swine Flu
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- Published on Friday, 03 July 2020 06:38
- Written by editor
READ
WHO Calls for 'Careful' Review of a New Strain of Swine Flu
...Read more: WHO Calls for 'Careful' Review of a New Strain of Swine Flu
Next Steps in the Anti-Racist Struggle?
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- Published on Friday, 03 July 2020 03:42
- Written by editor
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A Socialist Project e-bulletin ... No. 2137 ... July 3, 2020
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Next Steps in the Anti-Racist Struggle?
Gord Doctorow and Harry Kopyto
We have the good fortune to be living in one of those moments when we have a chance to accelerate history. The uncertainty is whether we can actually make it happen.
The culture of protest that has taken such a firm hold among the racialized, young people, and women especially, over the last five years has given social movements an unprecedented legitimacy and presence. The solidarity and protest demonstrations in the US, Canada and around the world sparked by the killing of George Floyd on May 25 reflect the depth and breadth of the smoldering underneath. This is fertile soil, especially during a pandemic when the future is a little blurred and the path forward is not clear or may even be up for grabs.
The calculus of intersectionality is showing proof that the whole is bigger than the sum of its parts. This time, there is a difference in the air, a sense that the moment has come for a final...
Did you know street checks are illegal?
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- Published on Thursday, 02 July 2020 14:12
- Written by editor
Dear BCCLA supporter,
We are in the midst of a global
movement calling for greater police accountability. All over
the world, people have taken to the streets demanding a change to
systemic racism in policing that disproportionately affects Black and
Indigenous people.
Here in Vancouver, where the BCCLA is based, there is renewed attention on police street checks.
A street check is a practice where police stop a person in public, question them outside the context of a police investigation, and often record their personal information in a database.
The BCCLA, alongside the Union of BC Indian Chiefs and Hogan’s Alley Society, has been drawing attention to the discriminatory nature of police street checks for a number of years. Black and Indigenous people are disproportionately stopped by police.
But police street checks are not just discriminatory. They are illegal. They have no basis in law.
In the video below, I explain what this means.
A lot has been made about reviews...
#CancelCanadaDay Broadcast is live now!
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- Published on Wednesday, 01 July 2020 15:46
- Written by editor
Past Imperfect, Future Unknown: Europe After Brexit and the Crisis
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- Published on Wednesday, 01 July 2020 07:06
- Written by editor
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A Socialist Project e-bulletin ... No. 2136 ... July 1, 2020
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Past Imperfect, Future Unknown: Europe After Brexit and the Crisis
Ingo Schmidt
Better Brexit than Jeremy Corbyn. This was probably the view of well-heeled Brits who would have rather remained in the EU. It was also the tenor of German media reporting on the elections to Britain’s lower-house of Parliament last November. In the run-up to the elections, Corbyn was almost continuously portrayed as a British version of Oskar Lafontaine, who in his short-lived role as economics minister in Gerhard Schroder’s first government in 1998 incurred the wrath of German and foreign media for suggesting some form of international capital controls.
After the elections the media quickly lost interest and instead consoled itself with the reality of Brexit with some schadenfreude. Much reporting dealt with the likelihood of a new referendum on Scottish independence or even about the potential unification of Northern Ireland with the Republic. This may well come to pass, but the pro-EU media have little occasion for schadenfreude. The same number of fissures running through the United Kingdom have also long...
Read more: Past Imperfect, Future Unknown: Europe After Brexit and the Crisis
Battle for the orangutans -- amazing response!
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- Published on Wednesday, 01 July 2020 05:58
- Written by editor
A,
Orangutans are dying because greedy palm oil companies are burning down rainforests.
Thousands of SumOfUs members worldwide are giving a little each month to save the orangutans --will you join them?
Donate CA$1 monthlyDonate CA$3 monthlyDonate CA$7 monthlyDonate another amount monthly
No thanks, but I'll make a one-time donation
Thank you for everything that you do,
Fatah and the team at SumOfUs
Here's my previous email with more details:
Our 2019 Annual Report is here
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- Published on Tuesday, 30 June 2020 16:12
- Written by editor
Our 2019 Annual Report is here!
Work at the systemic level takes a long time, and 2019 saw much progress on civil liberties and human rights issues that we’ve been fighting for many years.
From challenging racist police street checks, protecting the rights of imprisoned people, to combatting state surveillance, our work continues onwards.
Here’s a snapshot of our 2019 Annual Report:
- Highlights from the legal and legislative battles we fought in the past year, including expanding the right to vote, advocating for an end to indefinite solitary confinement, and fighting discriminatory practices such as police street checks and the Community Safety Act.
- Highlights from the Protest Papers, which revealed how Canada’s intelligence agencies monitored Indigenous communities and environmentalist groups that opposed the Enbridge Northern Gateway pipeline project.
- An update on ongoing...
July 1 Join us for 3 Hours of Indigenous Resistance and Resurgence!
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- Published on Tuesday, 30 June 2020 07:20
- Written by editor
- Inviting at least 3 of your friends to register for the broadcast at https://idlenomore.ca/cancelcanadaday/
- Click "going" on...
Read more: July 1 Join us for 3 Hours of Indigenous Resistance and Resurgence!
A Year for Fare-Free Transit
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- Published on Tuesday, 30 June 2020 06:12
- Written by editor
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A Socialist Project e-bulletin ... No. 2135 ... June 30, 2020
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A Year for Fare-Free Transit
James Hutt
When I made the case last year for fare-free public transit in Ottawa, it seemed like a longshot. What a difference a year can make. Since then, we’ve seen mass-organized fare evasions, fare-free campaigns launched in major cities, and, last April, Victoria’s city council even passed a motion to make municipal transit free (although the BC NDP rejected the idea and spending the funds it would require).
Fare-free transit is an essential part of the solution to the combined crises of climate change and inequality. However, we can and should dream much bigger. A Green New Deal could provide the framework within which to demand the transit system we deserve: everything from nationalized electric-bus companies to the return of inter-city transit, to high-speed rail and, of course, free transit.
Fare-free transit in every city should be a cornerstone of a Green New Deal. We could point to how every dollar invested in transit returns three dollars in economic growth. But, frankly, mobility should simply be a...
AXA: we need you today A!
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- Published on Monday, 29 June 2020 23:36
- Written by editor
Big day for AXA! The insurance giant’s shareholders are meeting today -- and the media are covering this event very closely on social networks.
With your help, we are going to take over the #Axa hashtag on Twitter so that the insurer's ties with the war trade are globally exposed and reach the top tweets.
Can you join us?
A,
Today, AXA is bringing together its investors from around the world for its annual shareholders' meeting. The insurance giant obviously intends to avoid “sensitive” issues -- such as its investments in banks that directly finance war crimes.
But this year is different: due to the Covid-19 restrictions, the meeting will be held online. A godsend ! Because investors and the media will follow the discussions and decisions on social networks. It's up to us to get our message to the top tweets by taking over the hashtag #Axa to expose the insurer's complicit investments.
AXA must...
Tell The Coca-Cola Company to stop attacking workers rights in the Philippines!
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- Published on Monday, 29 June 2020 23:30
- Written by editor
Read more: Tell The Coca-Cola Company to stop attacking workers rights in the Philippines!
$6.9 Billion US Pledged for COVID-19 Response
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- Published on Monday, 29 June 2020 12:06
- Written by editor
Global Goal: Unite for Our Future
What You Helped Accomplish
Read more: $6.9 Billion US Pledged for COVID-19 ResponseDead orangutans, it's a massacre
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- Published on Monday, 29 June 2020 09:50
- Written by editor
25 orangutans will die today. Just like yesterday, and tomorrow.
Palm oil deforestation is killing the last orangutans on our planet, and if we don’t act now, there won’t be any left in just 8 years.
We’ve got a plan to stop this massacre before the end of the year, but we need your help to double down now. Will you make a small monthly donation to save the orangutans from palm oil destruction?
Donate CA$1 monthlyDonate CA$3 monthly Read more: Dead orangutans, it's a massacre
Three Measures Against Racist Policing
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- Published on Monday, 29 June 2020 08:16
- Written by editor
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A Socialist Project e-bulletin ... No. 2134 ... June 29, 2020
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Three Measures Against Racist Policing
April M. Short
Protesters against police brutality and racism have gathered to demand systemic change since the end of May, holding events in all 50 US states and around the world. Impelled by the police murder of George Floyd on May 25, the protests amplify a long-standing call by social justice organizations, Black civil rights leaders like Angela Davis and many others for decades: dismantle, defund and/or abolish America’s racist and heavily militarized policing systems -- and replace them with community-led safety programs and public health initiatives. The movement’s leadership has made it clear that the protests, many of which have been non-violent due to community participation, are calling for more than updates to existing police training programs or reforms within existing police departments. Rather, they are calling for America to rethink the response to crime and safety overall. They are calling for cities to reallocate funding away from police and begin the steps to gradually dismantle the policing system altogether, as Eric Levitz writes in a recent New York...
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