Alternative News

Articles from non-mainstream as opposed to corporate for profit sources.

A Just Recovery

Details: Published on Thursday, 28 May 2020 03:22; Written by editor

SumOfUs joined hundreds of organizations -- from unions to grassroots groups -- to co-create the Principles of a Just Recovery post COVID-19.

In the midst of converging health, economic and climate crises, it is irresponsible to go back to a “normal”. “Normal” was widespread inequality, precarious work, climate inaction, environmental degradation and colonial violence. It’s obvious that we need something new -- and that’s just what the Principles of a Just Recovery offer.

We know that the Just Recovery won’t happen in one fell swoop but through a series of steps and changes over time. As one of the first steps, SumOfUs is pushing for Trudeau to stop dumping hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars into oil subsidies and reinvest in clean energy and long-term sustainable jobs.

Will you join the over 13,000 SumOfUs members calling for Canada to have a Just Green Recovery?

The Principles for a Just Recovery envision a beautiful, new world where human rights, good work and environmental protection are centred.

The 6 principles of Just Recovery

The 6 principles for a Just Recovery are:

Put people’s health and wellbeing first. No exceptions
Strengthen the...
Read more: A Just Recovery

Indias Kerala Is Combating COVID-19 Through Participatory Governance

Details: Published on Thursday, 28 May 2020 02:32; Written by editor

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A Socialist Project e-bulletin ... No. 2106 ... May 28, 2020
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India’s Kerala Is Combating COVID-19 Through Participatory Governance

Yadul Krishna

The left-ruled Indian State of Kerala continues to remain in the global spotlight for its effective and efficient measures in tackling the COVID-19 pandemic. Kerala dominated the Indian news headlines, showing the rest of the world its potential, its strength and its humane approach, demonstrating an operative model that other states can follow. The Kerala government’s apt and adaptive state-interventionist strategy even garnered attention in the international media and in academic journals, including that of MIT and Oxford, which praised the robustness of the ‘Kerala Model’ of development.

In Kerala, over its formative years, the communist state government, along with its collective organizations and trade unions, played an instrumental role in building up a strong public sector, which has given the state the leverage to effectively control pandemics and natural disasters. With its almost 100 per cent literacy and its top Human Development Index (HDI) ranking, the state has always been receptive to and proactive in progressive change.

But this is just one...

Join a teach-in for a Just Recovery

Details: Published on Wednesday, 27 May 2020 14:46; Written by editor

Friends,

We are still buzzing from excitement from Monday. In case you missed it, hundreds of civil society groups -- from unions to grassroots organizations -- launched the Principles for a Just Recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.

We know we cannot go back to the way things were. For years, we have witnessed the results of chronic inaction in the face of crises, from rising social inequity to the climate crisis.

We need to unite to demand action to build back better after the pandemic. Over the next few weeks, people across the country are hosting teach-ins in their communities to start organizing behind the principles for a Just Recovery.

There are over 30 teach-ins planned from coast to coast. Check out the map to find a digital teach-in with people near you.

Don’t see a teach-in near you? It isn’t too late to raise your hand to host a teach-in for a Just Recovery. Click here to get started.

It's unacceptable that as millions of people struggle to pay their bills, Canada’s corporate elite are raking in millions off the COVID-19 pandemic.

We have to act now as the Trudeau government...

COVID Life and the Asset Economy

Details: Published on Wednesday, 27 May 2020 07:02; Written by editor

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A Socialist Project e-bulletin ... No. 2105 ... May 27, 2020
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COVID Life and the Asset Economy

Lisa Adkins and Martijn Konings

Following the 2007-08 financial crisis the creation of a less unequal and fairer world appeared to be a major prospect. As is by now all too familiar, after the financial crisis, instead of becoming more progressive, societies turned out to be more unequal, with inequalities and asset-based class divisions becoming more embedded and entrenched, and runaway wealth becoming the signature of the post-crisis world.

The world is now suffering an entirely different kind of emergency, the COVID-19 pandemic. In numerous countries, death rates are soaring, non-essential businesses and workplaces have been shut down, governments have put in place ‘stay-at-home’, ‘shelter-in-place’ and physical distancing mandates, millions have lost their jobs or have had their jobs furloughed, and hundreds of thousands of people, mostly those in white-collar professional occupations, are working from home.

There have been plenty of rapid-fire commentaries on the crisis, especially on how wide-ranging inequalities are actively shaping the furrows of COVID life. This has included commentary expressly contesting problematic claims...

Novel Virus, Old Story: Government Failings Put Healthcare Workers at Risk

Details: Published on Tuesday, 26 May 2020 03:54; Written by editor

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A Socialist Project e-bulletin ... No. 2104 ... May 26, 2020
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Novel Virus, Old Story: Government Failings Put Healthcare Workers at Risk

Jane E. McArthur, Margaret M. Keith and James T. Brophy

An Ontario nurse with COVID-19 is terrified she will infect her young child. A COVID-19 screener in a small urban hospital isn’t provided with personal protective equipment (PPE) as she undertakes nasopharyngeal swabbing of suspected cases. A personal support worker (PSW) in a long-term care (LTC) facility sits in her car in tears before starting her shift, knowing that neither she nor the residents she cares for are being adequately protected.

The health crisis unfolding around the globe with the arrival of the novel coronavirus, COVID-19, has already had monumental impacts. News media report the pandemic is an unprecedented event. However, casting this crisis as exceptional narrows the focus. While the COVID-19 virus is unprecedented in its transmissibility, the lack of preparedness and inadequate protection for healthcare workers (HCWs) is an old story. If we look through the lens of worker protection, the COVID-19 pandemic is neither novel nor unforeseen. In many ways,...

Stop Canadian pension $ from purchasing the Coastal Gaslink!

Details: Published on Monday, 25 May 2020 17:46; Written by editor

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This is how we build back better

Details: Published on Monday, 25 May 2020 13:14; Written by editor

Friends,

This morning, we joined hundreds of organizations -- from unions to grassroots groups -- to launch a plan for a Just Recovery from the pandemic.1

We also learned this morning that Justin Trudeau is already tapping Bay Street bankers to guide his recovery planning.2 These are the same banks dumping billions of dollars into the fossil fuel industry, and putting profits ahead of people.

We know the federal government is putting together plans for a recovery from the coronavirus pandemic and we need Trudeau's cabinet to build back better. This is our chance to build a more equitable society that puts workers and communities first in the midst of a crisis. Join us to demand a Just Recovery that works for people and the planet. We've made it easy to email cabinet ministers responsible for the recovery with one click.

We cannot address the climate crisis without addressing rising economic and social inequality. Our fight for climate justice means justice for people and the planet to build a society that works for all, especially those most marginalized. That's why we have joined hundreds of organizations...

Bethunes Socialized Medicine and the Public Health Crisis Today

Details: Published on Monday, 25 May 2020 02:30; Written by editor

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A Socialist Project e-bulletin ... No. 2103 ... May 25, 2020
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Bethune’s Socialized Medicine and the Public Health Crisis Today

Pritha Chandra and Pratyush Chandra

"…that consumption and the other pulmonary diseases of the workers are conditions necessary to the existence of capital." -- Karl Marx

We are at war! The heads of states throughout the globe are posing as chieftains in this quixotic war against an enemy who no one understands. War rooms are being set up to manage data, propaganda, public reactions, and to control supplies, while the foot soldiers -- doctors, nurses, other medical and supporting staff -- toil to deal with the actual and potential carriers of the enemy, including themselves. Of course, along with them are the baton-wielding workers of the agencies of surveillance -- the police, security guards, etc. who are made to assist drones and other AIs to manage the panic and the surplus-ed population (migrants, homeless, and poor) on the streets.

Today, when international and national statesmen are opportunistically posing public hospital workers and those in so-called essential services as ‘warriors’, perhaps it is time for...

A New Lucas Plan for Post-Pandemic Socially Useful Jobs?

Details: Published on Sunday, 24 May 2020 02:12; Written by editor

LeftStreamed:

A New Lucas Plan for Post-Pandemic Socially Useful Jobs?

The public health crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic has put into sharp focus the precarious nature of work and human lives upon which our neoliberal capitalist economies thrive. On the other hand, it has shown what type of work is essential to society such as work in health and social care, public transport and other public services, and in the food supply chain.

To ensure capital survives, the government has found a ‘magic money tree’ to stimulate the economy. Companies in the aerospace and defence sector are being called upon to repurpose their production lines for socially needed products such as ventilators or PPE. Meanwhile, workers in some industries are already calling for conversion of their companies to produce socially useful products.

In a few weeks, many things we were told were not possible, have become just that -- possible. Many, even in the mainstream, say there will be no return to ‘normal’ after the pandemic is dealt with. We believe more radical changes are needed, and that socially useful production...

Palm oil victory: YOU did it!

Details: Published on Saturday, 23 May 2020 02:24; Written by editor

You did it A!

We’re one step closer to saving the last orangutans from palm oil destruction, and that’s thanks to you.

After more than 5 years of campaigning, PepsiCo has changed its palm oil sourcing policy, and agreed to use its influence with other companies to end rainforest destruction and human rights abuses.

This is a MASSIVE VICTORY. And A, it’s thanks to SumOfUs members like you.

PepsiCo is the world’s second-largest food and beverage company. By moving this snack food giant, you moved an entire sector!

Last year, during the company’s shareholder meeting, we presented more than a million signatures gathered over 5 years asking PepsiCo to cut ties with conflict palm oil. In response to your efforts and continued pressure, this year PepsiCo announced an industry-leading policy and a series of actions to tackle rainforest destruction, worker abuse, and exploitation of communities for cheap palm oil.

Ad on an iconic London double decker bus targeting PepsiCo and its Doritos brand in 2015.

Ad on an iconic London double decker bus targeting PepsiCo and its Doritos brand in...

Food Inequality, Covid-19 and the Community Restaurant

Details: Published on Saturday, 23 May 2020 01:18; Written by editor

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A Socialist Project e-bulletin ... No. 2102 ... May 23, 2020
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Food Inequality, Covid-19 and the Community Restaurant

Benjamin Selwyn

Far from the COVID-19 pandemic bringing us together, it has revealed and exacerbated existing and brutal social inequalities. The UK’s food system was intensely unequal before COVID-19, but the crisis has exacerbated these underlying trends. Looking at the UK’s socio-economic inequalities through the prism of its food -- the way it is produced, marketed, prepared and consumed -- offers us one way of thinking about what life might be like after COVID-19.

Discussions about life beyond Covid occur in a radically changed context. Some figures -- former chancellor George Osborne, in particular -- want a return to austerity. But circumstances are now so transformed that the British government may embark on large-scale increases in state spending: witness the state paying 80 per cent of wages for furloughed workers. The key question will not be that of the last ten years -- austerity vs anti-austerity -- but will rather centre around what the government deems to be worthy of investment.

It is here that the...

'PBI's weapon is their T-shirts': Indigenous rights defender

Details: Published on Wednesday, 18 November 2020 13:22; Written by editor

Humanity and kindness

Details: Published on Friday, 22 May 2020 12:14; Written by editor

TAKE ACTION

For Global Day of Solidarity Take Action to Protect Everyone, Everywhere From COVID-19

...

Dont Blame the Virus for Capitalisms Latest Crisis!

Details: Published on Friday, 22 May 2020 12:10; Written by editor

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A Socialist Project e-bulletin ... No. 2101 ... May 22, 2020
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Don’t Blame the Virus for Capitalism’s Latest Crisis!

Kim Pollock

Is corona-virus driving Canada into recession? Some people want us to think so. As early as March 27, CBC News referred to "the recession caused by COVID-19." The Toronto Star picked up the refrain April 9, referring matter-of-factly to "the recession brought on by COVID-19." The Globe and Mail repeated it on April 13. And as of May 1, says the C.D. Howe Institute, Canada is in a recession "due to the COVID-19 pandemic."

Short months ago, however, business economists were far more sanguine. They saw no signs of an oncoming recession at all. Quite the opposite: they predicted substantial growth for this year. In January, the Conference Board was just one of the mainstream outlets predicting solid GDP growth in Canada: 1.8 per cent for 2020 and 1.9 per cent for 2021.

Mainstream economists will therefore have good reason to claim ‘the virus did it!’ Yes, they will say, everything was fine until COVID-19 came along and knocked an otherwise buoyant Canadian...

The latest on our COVID-19 response

Details: Published on Friday, 22 May 2020 11:44; Written by editor

This is a test r1

Dear BCCLA friends and supporters,

Reading the news these days is like flipping through a dystopian novel, with the pandemic producing anxiety in all of us. Now more than ever, protecting civil liberties and human rights is imperative.

Many of you are getting in touch about the changing state of government policies at this time, such as privacy rights and policing measures. Our team is actively monitoring and responding to unreasonable breaches of our civil liberties.

We are:

- Defending digital privacy rights by pressing for measured government responses.

- Producing free legal factsheets to make sure you are equipped with information.

- Ensuring access to justice as part of the BC Attorney General’s Justice COVID-19 advisory group.

Read my latest blog for an update on how we’re protecting civil liberties and human rights during the COVID-19 pandemic.

This pandemic is a prism, refracting back to us the existing inequities...

100-Year-Old War Veteran Knighted For Raising Millions for UK COVID-19 Relief

Details: Published on Friday, 22 May 2020 06:34; Written by editor

READ

100-Year-Old War Veteran Knighted for Raising Millions for UK COVID-19 Relief

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Covid-19: SumOfUs members in trouble

Details: Published on Friday, 22 May 2020 06:08; Written by editor

Hi A -- I just wanted to make sure you caught the email I sent you yesterday.

Hundreds of your fellow SumOfUs members have told us they need help during this crisis: to pay mounting bills, get legal advice, or even just to buy food.

If you can afford it, can you chip in a little to help them? You’ll throw a lifeline to another member reading this email.

We'll distribute 100% of your gift to SumOfUs members in need, and you'll show them they're not alone.

If you’ve saved your payment information with SumOfUs, your donation will go through immediately:

Donate CA$97 now Donate another amount

Thanks for all that you do,
Deborah

Below, the email I sent you yesterday:

Thousands of SumOfUs members and their families are struggling during this COVID-19 crisis.

Here at SumOfUs, we always do everything we can to show up for each other. If you’re able, will you give a bit to a fellow...

Cabin Fever: Hope on the Edge of Despair at YYZ

Details: Published on Friday, 22 May 2020 04:54; Written by editor

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A Socialist Project e-bulletin ... No. 2100 ... May 22, 2020
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Cabin Fever: Hope on the Edge of Despair at YYZ

Sean Smith

New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman infamously defended globalization with the comment, "No, most of our political elite has not realised that the world is flat." His beloved neoliberal globalization has indeed helped flatten our world as we are all reading this in some form of quarantine.

With lightning speed our lives came to a halt as COVID-19 arrived on planes from one country to another, making airline cabin crew and airport workers the first domestic workers exposed to its horrors. At Toronto’s Pearson Airport (YYZ), we have already lost 13 co-workers, all precarious workers, with hundreds of other confirmed contacts and infections.

Unbelievably, Canada’s Public Health Agency (PHAC) refuses to even report the total numbers of confirmed cases and deaths to protect the "privacy" of the affected corporations and its employees (no worker in history has ever demanded their co-workers not know about unsafe work). For weeks bureaucrats calmly assured us that all was under control, denying all work refusals,...

Wet'suwet'en

Details: Published on Thursday, 21 May 2020 12:04; Written by editor

Canadian retirement funds are about to be used to purchase the Coastal GasLink pipeline.

Wet'suwet'en hereditary chiefs have resisted Coastal GasLink for years.

Help stop the pipeline by calling on AIMCo to drop its risky deal to buy TC Energy's LNG pipeline.

Sign the petition

AIMCo, one of Canada’s largest pension fund managers, quietly started the paperwork to buy a 65% equity interest share of the Coastal GasLink pipeline.

The same pipeline that the Wet'suwet'en hereditary chiefs have bravely and peacefully resisted for years. The same pipeline that led people across Canada to blockade rail, truck and ferry traffic in solidarity with land defenders on the frontlines earlier this year.

If built, the Coastal GasLink pipeline would bring us one step closer to climate collapse. Canadians’ retirement savings need to fund a renewable path, not the rapidly depleting LNG industry that is going to contribute to our warming planet.

Will you add your name to...

Producing Medical Equipment for Social Need

Details: Published on Thursday, 21 May 2020 10:28; Written by editor

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A Socialist Project e-bulletin ... No. 2099 ... May 21, 2020
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Producing Medical Equipment for Social Need:
Expand Production to Include N95 Masks at GM Oshawa

Green Jobs Oshawa

On April 24, the Canadian government announced a letter of intent to convert a portion of the GM Oshawa complex for the manufacture of much needed medical masks (personal protective equipment or PPE). Green Jobs Oshawa welcomed this important step forward.

However, it soon became apparent that GM’s plans for Oshawa are far short of what is needed. They are using only 50-60 workers and are making Level 1 surgical masks, not N95 masks (a higher level of protection needed especially by healthcare workers).

Manufacture N95 Masks in GM Oshawa Now!

General Motors Canada has the ability to manufacture millions of N95 masks in Oshawa:

* GM is already manufacturing N95 masks in the Warren, Michigan plant, and Warren is the template that was used for setting up mask production in Oshawa.

* The GM Oshawa complex has 10 million square feet, most of which is not being utilized. The existing mask...