Alternative News
Articles from non-mainstream as opposed to corporate for profit sources.
Council This Week
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- Published on Friday, 27 November 2020 14:02
- Written by editor
Something exciting is happening on Tuesday
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- Published on Friday, 27 November 2020 13:32
- Written by editor
Hi Friend,
If
you’re anything like us, you care about lots of
different issues, and are sometimes overwhelmed by the number of
injustices in the world.
More than once, we’ve found ourselves wishing someone would just tell us about something we could do. A tangible action that would make a difference.
We’re writing to tell you about an action today. It’s something that will support hundreds of high school students to learn more about the issues you and I care about.
We hear all the time that youth are the future of change. That’s a lot to put on young shoulders. They should have the resources available to them so they’re equipped to create that change.
Every year, the BCCLA brings together over 100 high school students to tackle issues ranging from anti-oppression to their rights as young workers.
For 16 years, we’ve worked with educators and youth experts to provide students with the tools necessary to take action. They’re given resources to...
Privatized Medicine in India Is Accelerating COVID-19 Death Toll
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- Published on Friday, 27 November 2020 05:40
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Privatized Medicine in India Is Accelerating COVID-19 Death Toll
Yogesh Jain
Spiraling healthcare expenses in India have been pushing more than 55 million Indians into a state of abject poverty every year. COVID-19 has only worsened the trend for even more families – like Aghan Singh’s.
To ensure that his sick mother received the best treatment, Singh, a self-employed motor mechanic in the small town of Bilaspur, in Chhattisgarh, India, decided to take her to a popular private hospital nearby. She had been running a fever since July 7 and had also developed breathlessness by July 9. Singh rushed her to the hospital, and when they reached the emergency...
Read more: Privatized Medicine in India Is Accelerating COVID-19 Death Toll
For some Native peoples, today is a Day of Mourning.
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- Published on Thursday, 26 November 2020 11:02
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MayflowersKill brings you Indigenous perspectives on why for many Native peoples it's a National Day of Mourning.
Dear friend,
“Many Native Americans do not celebrate the arrival of the Pilgrims and other European settlers. To them Thanksgiving Day is a reminder of the genocide of millions of their people, the theft of their lands, and the relentless assault on their culture. Participants in the National Day of Mourning honor Native ancestors and the struggles of Native peoples to survive today.”
• National Day of Mourning Rock (Plymouth, MA)
Despite the genocide, land theft and violence that still ripple throughout the continent, Native peoples continue to resist and defend their land and identities.
“It’s virtually a miracle we are still here. We are the descendants of a People who survived attempted genocide- the loss of our Ancestors’ lives, the erasure of our spirituality, culture, lands, and natural resources... We are painfully aware that history cannot be allowed to repeat itself.”
• Chairwoman Cheryl Andrews-Maltais, Aquinnah Wampanoag
Read more: For some Native peoples, today is a Day of Mourning.
A Friend and Great Leader That Will Not Be Forgotten
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- Published on Thursday, 26 November 2020 11:00
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We of course regret that our public events is still on hold due to the pandemic and we hope to resume them as soon as we can so we can bring all of us together again.
Four years ago today the physical presence of Fidel Castro, one of the greatest leaders who ever lived passed, however his teachings and examples will live on.
This anniversary like past ones and ones to come will be commemorated by people from around the globe. The following article that was printed on Granma International is worth reading on this occasion.
Always in Solidarity,Victoria Friends of Cuba
Fidel: A necessary presence
On the fourth anniversary of the Comandante en jefe’s physical disappearance, November 26, his work, example, and words as alive as ever, “We have shown that human beings can and must be better. We demonstrate the value of conscience and ethics. We offer lives.”
Read more: A Friend and Great Leader That Will Not Be Forgotten
We won't stop fighting Trans Mountain
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- Published on Thursday, 26 November 2020 09:02
- Written by editor
r33
Hi friend,
Despite his image as a “climate leader," Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is still pushing the Trans Mountain tar sands pipeline – a toxic project that, if built, would not only make it impossible for Canada to meet its climate commitments, but would increase oil tanker traffic 700%, likely spelling the end for endangered Southern Resident Killer Whales. There are only 73 of them left.
Protect the orca whales: Use our tool to tell Justin Trudeau to stop the pipeline once and for all.
TAKE ACTIONOrcas use underwater soundwaves to see their surroundings the way that people use lightwaves to see. For an orca, having more of these massive tankers in their waters would be like having a strobe light flashing in your face as you're preparing dinner. Increasing the number of oil tankers could spell the end for the remaining orcas of the Salish Sea.
The pro-pipeline crowd would have us believe that...
UK Launch of The Socialist Register 2021: Beyond Digital Capitalism
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- Published on Thursday, 26 November 2020 07:14
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UK Launch of The Socialist Register 2021:
Beyond Digital Capitalism
Saturday, November 28th / 11:00am EST
As digital technology became integral to the capitalist market dystopia of the first decades of the 21st century, it not only refashioned our ways of communicating but of working and consuming, indeed ways of living. Even as the COVID-19 pandemic revealed not only the lack of investment, planning and preparation that underlay the scandalous slowness of the responses by states around the world, but also grotesque class and racial inequalities as it coursed its way through the population, the owners of high-tech corporations were enriched by tens of billions of dollars. Rejecting both technological determinism and facile ‘cyber-utopian’ thinking, the 57th annual volume of the Socialist Register addresses how to imagine, struggle for, and plan for, new...
Read more: UK Launch of The Socialist Register 2021: Beyond Digital Capitalism
Poland: Revolution in Times of the Pandemic
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- Published on Thursday, 26 November 2020 05:28
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Poland: Revolution in Times of the Pandemic
Agata Czarnacka
Poland is a largely Catholic country, which is transforming into a secular society, based on human rights and gender equality. The general obedience and indifference to even the most outrageous actions of the government has now been replaced by a more conscious civil participation. A society that has lay passive under a neoliberal spell is now taking a giant step toward a more democratic state.
Poland stands on the verge of a humanitarian catastrophe. Hospitals are overflowing and in many places doctors have started triage as ventilators become scarce. Non-Covid patients need to wait for treatment, leading to October’s general death rate being the highest since World War...
Ignoring is Denying: The Ontario 2020 Budget and the Climate Emergency
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- Published on Wednesday, 25 November 2020 05:16
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Ignoring is Denying: The Ontario 2020 Budget and the Climate Emergency
David Robertson
On November 4th the US officially withdrew from the Paris Accord. On November 5th the Ontario government tabled a budget that ignored the climate crisis and our Paris Agreement targets. The United State’s denial of the climate crisis will likely change with a Biden administration. Ontario’s denial will continue for the rest of the Ford Government’s term.
Ontario currently faces two serious and related health crisis. One is the COVID-19 pandemic and the other is the climate emergency. Both are deadly. For COVID-19, the hope is that in time there will be a vaccine. But there is no vaccine for climate catastrophe. The climate...
Read more: Ignoring is Denying: The Ontario 2020 Budget and the Climate Emergency
No new pipelines needed?
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- Published on Tuesday, 24 November 2020 15:20
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Paov,
We got some groundbreaking news today. The Canada Energy Regulator (CER) released a new report showing that the Trans Mountain and Keystone XL pipelines are incompatible with action on climate change.1
That’s right. An arm of the federal government has explicitly pointed out the blatant contradiction in Trudeau's proclamations that action on the climate crisis can happen alongside tar sands expansion.2
This news makes a strong case for the government to deliver on ambitious climate policy that listens to science and leads the transition off fossil fuels. That’s exactly what we’ve been calling for by demanding measures to strengthen Bill C-12, the net-zero climate accountability bill tabled in Parliament last week. Will you add your voice as well?
The CER’s report confirms that real climate action means leading the transition off fossil fuels now. The first step is killing pipeline projects that would fuel tar sands expansion far beyond what our climate can afford. The only way to do that properly is by getting to work on climate policy that’s in line with climate science and sets the foundation for a just transition.
That’s why we’re sending letters...
Live! This Sunday: "Eating Like Our Planet Depends on It"
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- Published on Tuesday, 24 November 2020 09:32
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Read more: Live! This Sunday: "Eating Like Our Planet Depends on It"
Carnival's climate problem
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- Published on Tuesday, 24 November 2020 09:06
- Written by editor
r33
Hi friend,
Did you know that bowhead whales have an average lifespan of 200 years? Did you know that polar bears are actually black and that their fur is transparent? And did you know that their Arctic homes are at risk from the type of ultra-dirty fossil fuel Carnival Corporation burns to power its cruises?
You see, cruise giant Carnival has a dirty secret.
Under its all-you-can-eat buffets and “wholesome” entertainment are cruises powered by one of the dirtiest fossil fuels on the planet. It's called heavy fuel oil, a cheap bottom-of-the-barrel product that is so toxic it’s considered “hazardous” on land.
TAKE ACTIONHeavy fuel oil not only accelerates sea ice melt, even a small spill of this very dense fuel is extremely destructive in an Arctic environment. Bad weather conditions and the remoteness of the Arctic can make it very...
Freedom Instead of Selfishness: The Climate Movement After the Pandemic
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- Published on Tuesday, 24 November 2020 07:02
- Written by editor
Freedom Instead of Selfishness:
The Climate Movement After the Pandemic
Ulrich Brand
What applies to the pandemic also applies to the climate: the crisis is already happening. Hence, immediate and consistent action is needed.It is becoming increasingly clear that the world is facing a second wave of the coronavirus pandemic. While the dramatic consequences of the first wave have barely been processed in many countries, the number of cases is rising again significantly in many places. This threatens to put a much bigger crisis on the global political agenda for good: unchecked global warming. While the corona crisis and the fight against it are quite obviously an urgent problem of the present, the climate crisis is still perceived...
Read more: Freedom Instead of Selfishness: The Climate Movement After the Pandemic
Left Coast Events - November 26th to December 2nd
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- Published on Monday, 23 November 2020 11:46
- Written by editor
People's Assembly #2 to Protect the Planet Stop TMX
Thursday, 26 November 2020 from 19:00 PST-20:30 PST
The tactical retreat of Aug-September is history; Trans Mountain is planning to begin tree clearing in Coast Salish territory on Dec. 10. Join land &...
Read more: Left Coast Events - November 26th to December 2nd
Last chance: Dua Lipa
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- Published on Monday, 23 November 2020 06:28
- Written by editor
REWARD CLOSING SOON
Enter Now: Dua Lipa Studio 2054
Read more: Last chance: Dua LipaThe Ontario Budget: Hard Times Ahead
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- Published on Monday, 23 November 2020 06:16
- Written by editor
The Ontario Budget: Hard Times Ahead
To ease future cuts, the government established a budgeting system this year which would see much of the COVID-related funding budgeted under special funds distinct from the normal ministries. So much of the increased funding for the Ministry of Health or Ministry of Long-Term Care (LTC) is not reflected in their line items but instead through special funds that are then later allocated to a ministry.
So first the good news: The health and LTC special COVID funds are “budgeted” to continue for a couple of years. An additional $4-billion in 2021–22 and $2-billion in 2022–23 is currently planned to help the health sector address COVID-19.
The bad news, however, is that even with that continuation of special COVID funds, overall healthcare and LTC funding is budgeted to go...
Charmin
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- Published on Sunday, 22 November 2020 09:04
- Written by editor
r1 Stop Charmin’s tree-to-toilet pipeline
r33
Hey friend,
The Canadian boreal forest is under threat. At this moment, Procter & Gamble (P&G) is cutting down centuries old trees from the boreal forest to make butt wipes. But it doesn’t have to be this way – if only P&G incorporated recycled fiber into its flagship Charmin brand toilet paper, millions of trees would be saved.
Charmin is the largest at-home toilet paper brand in the US and its parent company, P&G, refuses to change the product’s recipe to be more forest-friendly. With the massive climate crises and pandemics we are facing, we must come together to protect our forests against the force of a giant corporation that upholds forest destruction and greenwashing.
Charmin may advertise its TP as “ultra soft” and “ultra strong” but in reality, Charmin is ultra wrong. The 100% virgin fiber that...
Booklaunch: The Diary of Dukesang Wong: A Voice from Gold Mountain
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- Published on Sunday, 22 November 2020 05:28
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Booklaunch: The Diary of Dukesang Wong: A Voice from Gold Mountain
Launch of The Diary of Dukesang Wong: A Voice From Gold Mountain (Talon Books, 2020), with editor and author David McIlwraith, as well as Judy Fong Bates and other guests.
The Diary of Dukesang Wong is the only first-person account from a Chinese worker on the famously treacherous parts of transcontinental railways that spanned the North American continent in the nineteenth century.
Dukesang Wong’s written account of life working on the Canadian Pacific Railway, a Gold Mountain life, tells of the punishing work, the comradery, the sickness and starvation, the encounters with Indigenous Peoples, and the dark and shameful history of racism and exploitation that prevailed up and down the North American continent.
The Diary of Dukesang Wong restores a lost central voice...
Read more: Booklaunch: The Diary of Dukesang Wong: A Voice from Gold Mountain
They saw this coming...
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- Published on Saturday, 21 November 2020 13:38
- Written by editor
This weekend SumOfUs is taking our call to Mark Zuckerberg's doorstep -- literally! Add your name to keep up the pressure and share this widely!
Tech giants like Facebook and YouTube have created toxic algorithms that push people to extreme content -- it's one of the ways groups spreading election lies are able to grow.
Now the platforms are taking measures to stop election disinformation, but will only make permanent changes if there's enough pressure on them to do so. Add your name and share this everywhere!
A,
Joe Biden has won the US Presidency -- but not on social media.
Tech giants like Facebook and YouTube have created toxic algorithms that push people to extreme content, littered with hate speech and lies. It’s one of the ways groups spreading election disinformation are able to grow by the tens of thousands in a matter...
More Articles...
- The Present is the Beginning
- Council This Week
- Women defenders webinar, Nov. 29
- Welcome to Stand.earth
- Meet the Woman Providing Health Care to Migrants at the US-Mexican Border
- Rebirth of Auto? Unifor and the Detroit Three
- Losing land. Gaining ground.
- Tell federal leaders to be brave on climate
- Share this powerful film today
- Past due
