This week @ rabble.ca: Celebrating 15 years of rabble!
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- Published on Monday, 02 May 2016 22:00
- Written by editor
21 Apr 2016
Hey rabble readers!
On Monday, April 18 rabble hit a massive milestone -- we turned 15 years old! That's quite an accomplishment given the number of folding newspapers and merging newsrooms all over the country. We couldn't have made it this far without the commitment of our generous readers. Thank you to our donors and if you don't already make a monthly contribution to rabble, we understand, but know that you're missing out! Celebrate this important milestone with us and become a monthly donor now. You'll get a free copy of the latest edition of the Best of rabble.ca and help rabble do even more.
Is our Senate a low-rent playground of oligarchs and pseudo aristocrats or a reformed den of experts that authentically represent regional interests? Today's "not guilty" verdict in the Mike Duffy trial tells us a lot about the red chamber. And Karl Nerenberg puts the entire trial, the implications for former prime minister Harper, and the future of the upper house in context in his latest report.
We need more independent journalists like Karl covering politics across Canada. Across the country, local, provincial and national politics reporters are disappearing. And Karl is one of the only independent, crowd-funded journalists working on the Hill today. You can follow everything Karl does directly, get updates, and more here. Become a patron of Karl's work on his Patreon page and help build a bigger, better rabble parliamentary bureau.
This Earth Week, we've launched a new column about agriculture and our relationships to food. Covering topics from land tenure to seed stock, it will examine food production issues that affect urban and rural dwellers alike. Dig into it here!
If you missed rabble's incredible panel Combating Islamophobia in Media, check out the official event podcast and catch all the highlights from speakers Urooba Jamal, Itrath Syed, Sunera Thobani, Ayesha Khan, and more about the value of diversity, storytelling and truth-sharing from marginalized communities within the media.
Our new Indie Inside feature artist is LAL, whose latest album, Find Safety, offers a compellingly danceable and provocative political statement. Check out their new video here and for a chance to win a copy of their new album, retweet @rabbleca with hashtag #indieinside or answer the following question: what colour toque is the person wearing at mid-point? Email answers to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
This week's top news
Workers who fought for unionization, fired by community organization
Last Thursday the SRRA staff voted to decertify the union in its workplace, which previously included the now-shuttered PMAA, a creative space for local youth.
By Teuila Fuatai
Chippewas of the Thames consider legal injunction to stop Enbridge's Line 9
The Chippewas of the Thames First Nation is considering filing an injunction against Enbridge's Line 9 to stop the company profiting off tar sands oil while the two camps are engaged in litigation.
By Keith Scott
Black Lives Matter Vancouver chapter organizes in solidarity with Toronto
On April 17 Black Lives Matter Vancouver gathered for its first event to bring awareness to and protest anti-Black racism in the city. Check out this stunning photo essay of the event!
By Lenée Son
'It's been a real struggle': Workers across Canada fight for $15 and fairness
Teuila Fuatai spoke with minimum-wage workers across Canada about their job conditions and the fight for $15 and fairness in Canada.
By Teuila Fuatai
Painful austerity budget for Newfoundland and Labrador
Sweeping cuts by the Liberal government will have a deep impact across the province's entire society.
By Cory Collins
This week's top blogs
On Earth Day, look -- then Leap
How might Canadians celebrate Earth Day? My suggestion is that we all carefully read the Leap Manifesto: A Call for Canada Based on Caring for the Earth and One Another.
By John Dilllon
'Behind any great woman is herself': The only Muslim woman forensic doctor in Jordan
"I want them to turn their eyes away from my look as a female to my mind as a forensic pathologist doctor: not male, not female," she says. "Until now, I am successful."
By Yusur Al Bahrani
Don't be fooled by Michelle Rempel's sudden conversion to feminism
Yes, Michelle Rempel should be free of harassment, just like all women. Feminists need to be careful, though, in erasing her role in upholding the very harassment she calls out.
By Nora Loreto, Sarah Beuhler
The Leap Manifesto is a bit of a problem -- with love from an Alberta progressive
Alberta organizer and researcher Bronwyn Bragg is not saying that now is not the time to have that conversation; she's saying this is the wrong way to have it.
By Bronwyn Bragg
I cancelled my newspaper subscriptions cold. And everything's just fine.
The short conclusion is that the Sun and the Province don't really cover politics in a meaningful way anymore and they never were any hell on other news anyway.
By Rafe Mair
This week's top columns
At the farm gate: Bridging the urban-rural divide
Today we launch a new column about agriculture and our relationships to food. It will look at food production issues that affect urban and rural dwellers alike.
By Lois Ross
Salmon or LNG? What's at stake in the Pacific Northwest decision
The federal environment minister is sitting on a big decision. In the face of opposition from First Nations, she is charged with granting environmental approval for an LNG project on Lelu Island.
By Duncan Cameron
Signing trade deals does not amount to promoting trade
If trade deals are the key to trade success, why is it that the more of them we implement, the worse our trade becomes? Perhaps the deals are doing more harm than good.
By Jim Stanford
From Enron to the Panama Papers: How many financial scandals will it take to change the rules?
Financial opacity isn't just a disease attacking Russia, China or the Gulf monarchies; it is a global reality. As shown by the Panama Papers leak, even Canada isn't immune from this virus.
By Monia Mazigh
In a bold move, NDP delegates save their party
In the aftermath of Tom Mulcair's crushing repudiation at the NDP's convention, the party enters a period of self-reflection and reinvention that it has never experienced before.
By Murray Dobbin
Rather than fearing the Leap Manifesto, let's bring on the debate
That silly Leap Manifesto -- giving itself away right in the subtitle, which calls for "a Canada based on caring for the Earth and one another." No wonder it provoked fury and outrage.
By Linda McQuaig
MORE FROM...
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
Ron Chapman on Cuba, 'The Poet of Havana' and the magic of music
Ron and I talk about his beautiful new film "The Poet of Havana," the magic of music, the generosity of poets like Carlos Varela and why piracy at one time was seen as a blessing in Cuba.
By Face2Face
Who will win the digital revolution?
A talk by Robert McChesney and John Nichols based on their book "People Get Ready - The Fight Against the Jobless Economy and a Citizenless Democracy."
By Victoria Fenner
A community challenging racial profiling in stores
Pastor Lennett Anderson and Ann Divine talk about one community's challenge to both a specific case and the broader issue of consumer racial profiling.
By Scott Neigh
Syrian refugees: A progress report
An interview with Maisie Lo, Director of Immigration Services at WoodGreen Community Services in Toronto.
By Maya Bhullar
This week's top rabbletv
Not Rex: Panama Papers outrage can make fair taxes possible
It's the battle of the taxes! While the rich avoid taxes and stash millions off shore, the rest of us are wondering what gives and what can we do?
By Humberto DaSilva
This week's top books
The state vs. activists: How progressive movements are repressed for corporate profit
What is ecoterrorism? According to John Sorenson it is the creation of the animal industrial complex in order to attack the animal rights movement and discredit its work.
By John Sorenson
In this issue
Upcoming events
LondonHands On: Women, Climate Change
Join us for a free screening of the film Hands On: Women, Climate Change, which profiles five women from four continents tackling climate change through policy, protest, education and innovation.
By Cinema Politica London and The Circle
TorontoMarxism 2016: Ideas for real change
A two-day political conference of discussions and panels from April 22-23 at the University of Toronto.
By International Socialists
Peterborough Sexual Consent Conference
This conference will include expert speakers from across Ontario talking about the notion of sexual consent.
By The Sexual Consent Conference
This week's top in cahoots
Earth Day: Let's leave a legacy of sustainability for future generations
The CLC is marking Earth Day, April 22, by renewing its call for a one million climate jobs plan that would allow Canada to transition from fossil-fuel reliance to a sustainable economy.
By Canadian Labour Congress
New EU proposal will perpetuate investors' attacks on health and environment
A new study looks at the latest attempts to reform CETA's Investment Court System and shows how the changes fail to deliver on their promise to prevent controversial trade lawsuits.
By Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives
Close the gender wage gap: Ken Neumann statement for Equal Pay Day
Canadian women had to work all of 2015 AND up to April 19, 2016 just to earn as much as the average male worker did in the 12 months of 2015.
By United Steelworkers
Active babble topics
UC Davis doesn't want you to remember it ordered its own students to be pepper-sprayed
By swallow
Manitoba NDP leadership
By Aristotleded24
Canada's pot legalization bill to be introduced in spring 2017, minister tells UN
By Debater
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This week's top tool
Join the Fight for 15 and Fairness
Find out about events in your community and join the movement.
Poll
What's your reaction to the Mike Duffy verdict?
Senator Mike Duffy has been found not guilty on all 31 charges against him, including those relating to his residency and travel expenses.
Justice Charles Vaillancourt stated Duffy's conduct was "reasonable and honest" and that he was acting on advice from the Prime Minister's Office (PMO). He also said Duffy took steps to ensure he met the residency requirement and was given advice by then-prime minister, Stephen Harper.
Vaillancourt slammed the PMO's actions calling them "mind-boggling and shocking" and commented that Duffy was an unwilling participant in the overall scheme.
As the verdict sends shockwaves across the country, a full range of reactions has followed.
What's your reaction to the Mike Duffy verdict?
Choices I'm frankly surprised he got off on everything. However, I do think it is the PMO and Harper who are responsible for this scandal, not Duffy. Oof. It clearly highlights that the Senate needs straightforward rules on spending and expenses, not to mention residency requirements. I think Canada needs a new legal system. How, HOW, could he get off on everything?! The Senate should work for the people, not spend our money on personal expenses! When's the Harper lawsuit? And the one against Nigel Wright too? I think the judge gave the correct verdict given all the information. None of the above.Forward to a friend
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