This week @ rabble.ca: Too much at stake. We need real consultation on the TPP.

Details: Published on Friday, 19 February 2016 13:00; Written by editor

11 Feb 2016

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This week's top news

Climate action neglected in B.C. Liberals' throne speech
With the start of B.C.'s new session of legislature this week, Lieutenant Governor Judith Guichon read the B.C. Liberals' throne speech bringing with it criticism from environmental groups.
By Alyse Kotyk

Devastating cuts threaten Toronto city workers' job security, union says
Thousands of Toronto city workers are facing sweeping contract changes designed to eliminate job security, create less stability for part-time employees and significantly reduce benefits, says union.
By Teuila Fuatai

Indigenous women and girls with disabilities bigger targets of sexual violence
Indigenous women and girls with disabilities are targeted by predators at a greater rate yet there is a gap in research. Moving forward, the national inquiry must consider these questions.
By Fiona Whittington-Walsh, Lynn Gehl

TPP imposes controversial limitations on Canada's cultural policy options
The intersection between the TPP and Canadian cultural policies is likely to emerge as one of the more controversial aspects of the TPP.
By Michael Geist

Canada must act now to save its steel-making industry
Steelworkers are growing increasingly concerned that U.S. Steel will shut down Canadian operations, costing workers their pensions and benefits.
By Paul Weinberg

Scraping by on the minimum wage and the Fight for $15
In part two of rabble's minimum wage series, labour reporter Teuila Fuatai looks at who is most affected by low wages and what life can be like living below the poverty line.
By Teuila Fuatai

This week's top blogs

Deepa Mehta stirs up controversy again with new film on Indo-Canadian gangsters
The iconic filmmaker's latest feature, a stylish Beeba Boys gangster thriller, riles some South Asian communities.
By Penney Kome

In the wake of budget cuts and cancelled programs, the humanities need gender studies more than ever
Gender needs to remain a central focus in humanities education for the simple reason that the humanities project is fundamentally an unfinished project.
By Erin Wunker

The prosecution in the Ghomeshi trial isn't incompetent. The game is rigged.
Most Canadians seem to believe that Ghomeshi assaulted the women now accusing him before the courts. But just as many seem to agree that the "credibility" of these truth-telling women is shot.
By Michael Stewart

Don't just give equal funds to child welfare for First Nations children. Decolonize it.
Equal funding within a fundamentally unjust system cannot lead to justice. If the problem is colonialism, then the answer is decolonization.
By Laura Landertinger

Film review: Swedish-built Somalian bandy team shows how sport can challenge and shift prejudice
A new documentary captures the story of the Somalian national bandy team, built in Sweden.
By Cathryn Atkinson

Struggling between parenting and activism
The mainstream left needs to more meaningfully include parents in activism and organizing.
By Nora Loreto

This week's top columns

Beyoncé delivers anthem of Black power at Super Bowl
Amidst the unrelenting commercial fanfare surrounding Super Bowl 50, a raw and undiluted expression of a powerful social movement made its way onto centre field.
By Amy Goodman, Denis Moynihan

Tweeting to excess: The trial coverage of #bosma and #ghomeshi
The stenographic, bathetic coverage of the Bosma and Ghomeshi trials only amplifies what's wrong with Twitter in the courtroom. Trials are reality, not reality TV.
By Wayne MacPhail

Will the NDP take on corporate power? It's time to choose.
The NDP has a choice. It can stress social democratic measures to fix inequality, or it can go further and attack the unjust, failing economy, and expose the choices directed by corporate power.
By Duncan Cameron

Badke dance brings Palestinian experience to the stage
Badke, a hybrid dance performance based on a traditional Palestinian dance, has its Canadian premiere in Toronto from Feb. 17 to 20 at the Fleck Dance Theatre.
By June Chua

There's too much at stake. We need real consultation on the TPP.
What are we to make of the Trudeau government's erratic attitude towards the Trans-Pacific Partnership? So far the consultation process has not penetrated the ideological bubble of trade officials.
By Murray Dobbin

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Naomi Klein, Linda McQuaig, Rick Salutin, Duncan Cameron, Wayne MacPhail, Murray Dobbin and others! Read columns...

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This week's top podcasts

Fighting anti-Black racism in Canada: Past, present, future
Akua Benjamin and Rinaldo Walcott talk about the work of the Anti-Black Racism Network.
By Scott Neigh

TPP as global economic eugenics
Lawyer and author Gus Van Harten walks us through just some of the ways in which the TPP is a direct assault on democracy.
By Daryn Caister

Waterloo's people's injunction against the NEB
Audio from the January 24 "People's Injunction" demonstration in Waterloo which demanded new rules for the NEB which consider Indigenous rights and climate change in their decisions.
By Dan Kellar

This week's top rabbletv

Not Rex: On the Flint Michigan water crisis
The Flint water crisis is right up there with some of the most egregious crimes of capitalism.
By Humberto DaSilva

This week's top books

Is Canada back? Not if austerity dominates and capitalism isn't confronted
How can the left better challenge austerity measures and capitalism? "The Servant State" suggests we move beyond mere indignation and confront the horrifying reality in front of us.
By Chris Walker

In this issue

Upcoming events

TorontoThe Vagina Monologues
A benefit performance to end violence against women and to support Sistering: a women's place, supporting women in extraordinary circumstances.
By First Unitarian Congregation of Toronto

Edmonton Rae Spoon: Bodies and gendering
Join us for a talk with Rae Spoon about bodies and gender.
By The Landing: A student space for gender & sexual diversity

VancouverAfrican refugees: Highlighting a forgotten and excluded people
The refugee crisis continues to unfold. Tens of thousands of people are crossing the Mediterranean or reaching Europe by land in the Middle East. But we've also noticed something missing.
By Institute for the Humanities at Simon Fraser University

This week's top in cahoots

Canada Pension Plan Disability is failing many of the most vulnerable Canadians
This week, Canada's Auditor General Michael Ferguson released a damning report on the state of the Canada Pension Plan Disability (CPPD) program.
By Canadian Labour Congress

CUPE locals in Toronto launch bargaining ad campaign
Our locals of the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE), in contract negotiations with the City of Toronto, have launched a TV advertising campaign in support of bargaining.
By Canadian Union of Public Employees

Eliminating tuition and compulsory fees for post-secondary education
A new report from the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA) outlines a clear path towards accessible post-secondary education in Canada.
By Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives

Active babble topics

Wab Kinew's entry into Manitoba politics seen as boon to NDP
By NorthReport

Women remain a distinct minority in House
By Debater

Winter travel survival kit
By Paladin1

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This week's top tool

TransRights BC launches Know Your Rights
A comprehensive set of guidelines geared towards the trans community.

Poll

How should the NDP move forward after the 2015 election?

NDP Leader Tom Mulcair has released a letter taking full responsibility for the party's dismal 2015 election results. He expressed the desire to remain leader of the NDP and assured supporters he would not make the same mistakes of the 2015 election campaign.

Many have been critical of the leader, but also the party in general saying it needs to renew its strategy and priorities in order to differentiate itself from the Liberals and represent Canada's Left.

How should the NDP move forward after the 2015 election?

Choices Re-engage with Canada's grassroots and social movements. Model Bernie Sanders' campaign and start making bold, radical statements and promises. Create an engaging and exciting party again and revive discussion among members. Shift the debate back to the left and use strong progressive language. Not sure, but the first step should be getting a new leader. Not sure, but Mulcair should stay on as leader. None of the above.