This week @ rabble.ca: Celebrating the labour movement

Details: Published on Monday, 05 May 2014 11:40; Written by editor

02 May 2014

Hey rabble readers!

Happy May Day! This week we celebrated the achievements of the labour movement with special labour coverage, including a rabble radio podcast dedicated to labour and exciting new tools for change from the Activist Toolkit. April 28 was the National Day of Mourning, a time to remember and honour workers who have been killed or injured on the job -- and an important reminder why we must continue the fight for workers' rights. You can catch up on all of our labour stories here.

Our labour coverage continues next week with news from the Canadian Labour Congress convention, where our labour reporter H.G. Watson will be reporting live from the convention floor. Watch for her dispatches in our labour section as part of our wall-to-wall convention coverage, and learn more about the candidates vying for CLC presidency with our pre-election profiles.

May Day might be over but the Mayworks Festival of Working People and the Arts in Toronto runs from May 1-15! Visit www.mayworks.ca for the program of exciting visual art exhibits, panel discussions, poetry readings, musical performances, and more.

This weekend is the annual conference of the Canadian Association of Labour Media in Quebec. The conference features over 20 workshops, panel presentations, strategy sessions and more, and runs through May 3.

This week's top news

Gaza's Ark attacked, will rebuild and continue to challenge blockade
On Tuesday morning, an explosion occurred that sank the freshly renovated cargo ship Gaza's Ark. Ehab Lotayef comments on the attack and the future of the project.
By Paul Weinberg

I was born in Canada but my Canadian citizenship has been stripped away
Deepan Budlakoti was born in Canada. His parents and brother are Canadian citizens. Now the Canadian government has taken his passport and left him stateless.
By Deepan Budlakoti

Remembering Dan Heap on May Day
The late Dan Heap was arrested, along with a group of activists, for an anti-greed action on May Day 1996. Brent Patterson was with him at that action. Here are his remembrances of Dan Heap.
By Brent Patterson

Why postal banking may save Canada Post
Postal workers gathered to check out the facts about postal banking in Ottawa this weekend. From international success stories to strategy, here is a report on what they discussed.
By H.G. Watson

Global crisis and alternatives: A conversation with David Harvey
David Harvey, Distinguished Professor of Anthropology and Geography, sat down with Patrick Clark to discuss the global economic crisis and need for alternatives.
By Patrick Clark

Canada's game commodified. CBC suffers.
With Rogers now firmly in control in the Canadian telecom world and its grasp on Hockey Night in Canada, CBC lies bleeding. Canadian media now teeters perilously on the brink of a dark new dawn.
By Matt Dusenbury

Omar Khadr and the Charter of Rights
Why is Omar Khadr still in jail? The Free Omar Khadr Now Campaign is calling for a renewed dedication from politicians and a parliamentary initiative in order to end this shameful chapter.
By Kathleen Copps

This week's top blogs

Harper wins, First Nations lose
In this blog, Daniel Wilson explains the background to AFN National Chief Shawn Atleo's resignation.
By Daniel Wilson

Brace yourself for a tumultuous three weeks in Parliament
The House is dealing with the Fair Elections Act, the temporary foreign workers issue, the First Nations Education Act, the newest omnibus budget bill and much more, all in great haste.
By Karl Nerenberg

Breaking very bad: Rob Ford's season four finale
Ford's conduct is not wrong because he has "problems." It is wrong because of who he is and what he represents. Rehab will not change the fact that he is an abusive bigot.
By Michael Laxer

Do women matter? Donald Sterling has a long history of sexism too, but few are angry about it
Donald Sterling's ignored misogyny tells us what the NBA (and the world at large) really thinks about women.
By Meghan Murphy

Follow the Money, Part 6 -- Are corporate fat cats funding obesity research?
Who's funding your health research? Is it the same people who funded tobacco research to 'prove' second-hand smoke doesn't cause cancer? Let's follow the money.
By Donald Gutstein

Student debt and class privilege: An open letter to Margaret Wente
Leah Wiener responds to Wente's assertion that post-secondary student debt in Canada is a myth.
By Leah Wiener

Chief Shawn Atleo should tear up First Nations Education Act
Recognition of First Nation jurisdiction and adequate funding could change lives of First Nations and Canadians as we know it. The new First Nations Education Act accomplishes none of this.
By Pamela Palmater

Five Rad Voices you need to hear
Here are the top five radical grassroots activists that were featured on the Rad Voices podcast that you need to listen to.
By Steffanie Pinch

This week's top columns

New Brunswick invites the return of unsafe abortions
The government of New Brunswick has decided to directly endanger the health and lives of New Brunswick women on the basis of its presumed "pro-life" religious beliefs.
By Joyce Arthur

A number is never just a number: Middle-class angst
Only 47 per cent of Canadians self-identify as middle class today, down from almost 70 per cent in 2002. This month, Hennessy's Index breaks down the numbers behind Canada's middle-class angst.
By Hennessy's Index

Harper spares Canada's multi-billion-dollar banks from competition
Instead of opting for an idea which promised to increase competition in the banking sector and produce higher profits for Canada Post, the Harper government settled for a "lose-lose" strategy.
By Linda McQuaig

A spineless FCC can't protect the Internet backbone
Cable and telephone companies have lusted after an Internet they control for years. And last week a toothless and gutless Federal Communications Commission wrote the first act of their dream.
By Wayne MacPhail

Disposable workers: Bigger profits from lower wages
Canada is not short of workers: it is short of employers prepared to pay decent wages for difficult, demanding work. For business, labour is a cost of production to be kept low.
By Duncan Cameron

The inequality trap
Because inequality's not a top-of-mind concern, people are content with crumbs instead of larger shares of the pie. Moving inequality onto the public agenda requires calling for radical change.
By Marc Zwelling

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This week's top podcasts

2013 Women's Forum Speaker: Jarrah Hodge
The media has a troubled relationship with Canadian women. In this podcast, blogger Jarrah Hodge speaks about what that means for Canada.
By Victoria Fenner

Jose Figueroa speaks at May Day Potluck Dinner and Panel
This is a recording of the fifth annual May Day Potluck in Guelph, Ontario, featuring Jose Figueroa, a Canadian-Salvadorean currently fighting a deportation order in Langly, B.C.
By Migrant Matters Radio

Activists protest Barrick Gold AGM
Over 150 people participated in a protest against Barrick Gold outside the company's annual general meeting on Wednesday.
By John Bonnar

The fight to raise the minimum wage in Ontario
Sonia Singh and Anthony Tambureno talk about the province-wide struggle to increase the minimum wage in Ontario to a living wage of $14/hour.
By Scott Neigh

Episode 154: Labouring for change
May Day is coming and we celebrate by hearing about labour in Indonesia, and spoken word poem about justice in the U.S., plus an agricultural land reserve and community gardening in Ottawa.
By Matthew Adams, Meagan Perry

This week's top rabbletv

National Day of Mourning: Remember the fight
On the National Day of Mourning remember not just the 100 workers on the monument on Front Street. But the hundreds of thousands of workers who have died and the hundreds more who will.
By Humberto DaSilva

This week's top books

'Grist' masterfully captures the hardships of early Maritimes life
'Grist' is the third novel by Linda Little and follows the story of Penelope MacLaughlin, a Nova Scotian woman trapped in a loveless marriage during the at times bleak and trying days of 19th century.
By Joan Baxter

In this issue

Upcoming events

TorontoSetting the Stage for Change: Celebrating May Day 2014
The United May Day Committee's annual celebration of the international workers' holiday will be held on Saturday, May 3 at the Steelworker's Hall, 25 Cecil Street.
By United May Day Committee

MontrealA conversation about the taxes required to pay for the society we want
The Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives invites you to a conversation about the taxes required to pay for the society we want.
By Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives

OttawaBook Launch: Masculindians: Conversations about Indigenous Manhood
Between October 2010 and May 2013, Sam McKegney conducted interviews with leading Indigenous artists, critics, activists, and elders on the subject of Indigenous manhood.
By Octopus Books

This week's top in cahoots

Parliament Hill gets 'fracked'
On Thursday, May 1, a 14-foot fracking rig spilling fracking wastewater appeared on Parliament Hill to highlight the grave risks associated with fracking such as well leaks and wastewater spills.
By Council of Canadians

Report shows the value of unions
Unions built the middle class in the last century and, with the right conditions, can do so again this century, a new report by Unifor economist Jordan Brennan has found.
By Unifor

The best and worst place to be a woman in Canada
A new report provides an index of gender equality in Canada's 20 largest metropolitan areas.
By Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives

Active babble topics

Save the Fredericton Morgentaler Clinic!
By Unionist

Aboriginal education bill
By epaulo13

Shawn Atleo resigns as national chief of the Assembly of First Nations
By Kaitlin McNabb

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This week's top tool

National Day of Mourning for Workers
Every April 28 communities remember and honour workers who have been killed, injured or infected with illnesses on the job.

Poll

What do you think is the biggest issue facing Parliament?

Parliament is back in business this week and there is a lot on the docket. One gets the sense that the Conservatives are going to try to push through a hamper full of legislation in a very short time. The opposition are concerned that the Conservatives are pushing too hard on a number of fronts.

What do you think is the biggest issue facing Parliament?

Choices The Fair Elections Act Temporary foreign workers First Nations education Omnibus budget implementation bill Ugh. I can't even with the Conservatives anymore. None of the above.