Alternative News
Articles from non-mainstream as opposed to corporate for profit sources.
A slow-moving catastrophe
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- Published on Thursday, 12 November 2020 17:10
- Written by editor
I hope Biden will keep his promise
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- Published on Thursday, 12 November 2020 16:38
- Written by editor
Paov,
The Keystone XL pipeline has been in the news a lot this week.
But the media acts like everyone in Canada supports this project. I was especially frustrated after reading an Edmonton Journal piece on KXL that quoted five people, including a fossil fuel lobbyist, but didn’t include a single voice opposing the project.1
Despite this kind of disappointing coverage, I know that opposition for Keystone stretches from coast to coast. Thousands of people have already signed our open letter calling on Biden to keep his pledge to cancel Keystone XL.
I hope you’ve had a chance to read the open letter. Can you take a minute to add your name?
Today, we put out a new video that recaps the key moments in the fight against Keystone XL. It’s truly moving to look back at footage and photos from the last 12 years. Indigenous communities and the climate movement have been fighting this project for over a decade. People across Canada and the US have sacrificed their time, their resources, and sometimes even their freedom to stand in the way of KXL. Watch the video here:
Defeating Trumpism, More to Build
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- Published on Thursday, 12 November 2020 02:16
- Written by editor

Bernie Sanders
Because of your efforts, we have won the most important election in the modern history of our country. As I’ve said many times, this election was not just about Biden vs. Trump and what their views on the issues were. It went much deeper than that. This was an election about whether we end pathological lying in the White House and retain democracy and the rule of law in our country, and thank God, we have done that.
In the days and weeks to come I’m sure that everyone in the world is going to be taking credit for Biden’s victory, and the media and the pundits will have their views. But let me just say this.
In my view, multi-racial, multi-generational progressive grassroots...
Launch of the new IUF Website
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- Published on Wednesday, 11 November 2020 22:02
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Climate change
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- Published on Wednesday, 11 November 2020 13:04
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Endorse the global movement taking on fossil fuels

I’m just going to come out and say it: what humanity does this decade will decide the future of our planet. Every day, our window to properly address climate change is shrinking. Every day, the health and safety of communities are at further risk from fossil fuels. But let’s be perfectly clear – we can avert the worst of these crises. We can end our dependence on fossil fuels and build a just, clean energy economy. The only question is whether or not we will.
I believe that we will win. We have the ingenuity, technology, and passion. What we’ve needed is a way to unite efforts to protect our communities with efforts to protect climate into one global movement.
All around us, on virtually every continent around the globe, people are taking action. From Canada to California from Boulder to Baltimore from the Amazon Sacred Headwaters to the Rhineland from Capetown to Singapore – and beyond – communities are fighting fossil fuel projects: and more often than not,...
Democratic Movement Attacks the Established Order in Thailand
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- Published on Wednesday, 11 November 2020 06:12
- Written by editor

Democratic Movement Attacks the Established Order in Thailand
Pierre Rousset
Led by young people and benefiting from broad support, the Thai democratic movement continues to mature. It is challenging the military-monarchist oligarchy, confronting the royal couple, and harking back to the militant struggles of the past. The enthronement of King Rama X has opened a major succession crisis. More profoundly, a whole archaic order -- which had succeeded in the 1990s and 2000s in aborting attempts to "modernize" the kingdom, shattering the hopes of democratization of society -- is being called into question.
The outbreak of the Thai crisis owes a lot to the very special personality of Crown Prince Vajiralongkorn, enthroned under the name of Rama X of the Chakri dynasty. If his more rational and well-liked sister, Princess Sirindorn, had...
Read more: Democratic Movement Attacks the Established Order in Thailand
President-elect Biden, Canada & human rights
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- Published on Wednesday, 18 November 2020 15:22
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Big Tech
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- Published on Tuesday, 10 November 2020 13:30
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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 of...
Enough is enough. We're suing the RCMP Commissioner.
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- Published on Tuesday, 10 November 2020 09:34
- Written by editor
Dear Friend,
Today, we announced that we are suing the RCMP Commissioner Brenda Lucki.
For over six years, we’ve been waiting for a response to our complaint against the RCMP for illegally spying on climate organizations and First Nations opposed to the Enbridge Northern Gateway Pipeline project. Secret surveillance creates a chilling effect. People who have been illegally spied on are waiting for real answers and accountability.
Enough is enough. The RCMP Commissioner’s inexcusable delays are sabotaging the civilian watchdog complaint process. The BCCLA won’t let that stand.
We’re suing the RCMP Commissioner because communities across these lands who have been demanding an end to the abuses of police power deserve better.
In June 2017, the RCMP watchdog, the Civilian Review and Complaints Commission (CRCC), launched an investigation into our complaint and completed an interim report. This interim reported was forwarded to the RCMP...
Read more: Enough is enough. We're suing the RCMP Commissioner.
From the Streets to the State and Back Again: Learning From the Sanders Moment
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- Published on Tuesday, 10 November 2020 04:04
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From the Streets to the State and Back Again: Learning From the Sanders Moment
Stephen Maher and Rafael Khachaturian
The essays gathered in this collection were written in the midst of an escalating and multifaceted crisis situation in the United States. They address the search for a socialist politics in a highly uncertain period during which the legitimacy -- if not the structural persistence -- of neoliberalism came under increasing strain.
During that time, Bernie Sanders’ campaigns were seen as an apparent breakthrough for the left, allowing the widespread delegitimation of neoliberal ideology to be expressed within the parameters of the party system. Their failure compels socialists to return to difficult organizational and strategic questions -- and the answers are as uncertain as ever. As contemporary analyses of this period, these essays...
Read more: From the Streets to the State and Back Again: Learning From the Sanders Moment
Left Coast Events - November 12 - 18th
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- Published on Monday, 09 November 2020 14:58
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Victoria Virtual Forum 2020: Bridging Divides in the Wake of a Global Pandemic.
12 Nov at 08:30 PST – 13 Nov at 17:00 PST
To Register, Visit: https://events.eply.com/2020VVFVIRTUAL VICTORIA FORUM 2020
Join the discussion at the Victoria Virtual Forum 2020 as you, along with a panel of distinguished facilitators, explore the social, economic, and environmental impacts of COVID-19 in Canada and around the World! You will work together to develop real, actionable solutions to the issues you have registered to explore. You can also sit back and simply absorb the fascinating discussions which unfolding around you. The Victoria Forum is a joint initiative between the Senate of Canada and the UVic Gustavson School of Business. To Register Visit:
https://victoriaforum.ca/2020-forum/Virtual Victoria Forum 2020 ThemeWe are dealing with the effects of the coronavirus pandemic and its widespread impact on our economies, our societies and our environment. The virus is exposing the limitations of existing institutions, structures and systems, and exacerbating many divides and vulnerabilities in Canada and around the world. Social and economic divisions are being widened through the differential impact of the pandemic on vulnerable populations. At the same...
You just won!
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- Published on Monday, 09 November 2020 13:06
- Written by editor
Thanks to you, TD just announced it is pulling away from funding the fossil fuel industry and going net-zero by 2050.
Now it’s time for RBC to follow suit -- and your pressure will make it act.
A,
MASSIVE NEWS -- thanks to your pressure over the last two years, TD Bank just announced it is pulling the plug on fossil fuels and going net-zero by 2050.
This win is a testament to the strength of our people powered movement to combat climate change.
In 2019, TD executives underestimated the power of our movement and relayed to me that a plan to defund fossil fuels just wasn’t possible before 2050.
But thanks to all of the hard work of SumOfUs members like you over the past two years, TD executives JUST announced a plan to move away from funding fossil fuels.
But there’s still work to do, A. The Canadian banking industry is at the forefront of fossil fuel funding and today’s...
Sign our open letter and tell Biden to stop Keystone XL once and for all
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- Published on Monday, 09 November 2020 10:20
- Written by editor
Friends,
I need to ask for your help. As you no doubt know by now, it’s been just about 48 hours since the Associated Press declared that Joe Biden will be the next President of the United States. And, as the media all across Canada has been reporting, Biden promised to cancel the Keystone XL pipeline during his first 100 days in office.
But, it’s becoming increasingly clear that Canadian oil lobbyists and Trudeau's cabinet are gearing up to try and convince Joe Biden to go back on this promise. Just yesterday, Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne told the CBC that persuading Biden to build Keystone is at the “top of the agenda” for Canada.¹
That’s why the 350 Canada team put together an open letter urging President-Elect Biden to ignore the voices in support of Big Oil and, instead, listen to the people, in Canada and the US, who want bold climate action and massive investments in good, green jobs. Click here to add your name to the letter.
The...
Read more: Sign our open letter and tell Biden to stop Keystone XL once and for all
Ontarios Adoption of IHRA Definition Weakens Our Collective Fight Against Discrimination
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- Published on Monday, 09 November 2020 04:56
- Written by editor

Ontario’s Adoption of IHRA Definition Weakens Our Collective Fight Against Discrimination
Khaled Mouammar
On October 25, Doug Ford’s Conservative government, through an order-in-council, adopted the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s (IHRA) “working definition of anti-Semitism.”
Not only is this unilateral move in keeping with the Ford government’s anti-democratic tendencies, the flawed IHRA definition poses a direct threat to freedom of expression. It also fails, as David Feldman has written in The Guardian, to “make any ethical and political connections between the struggle against anti-Semitism and other sorts of prejudice.”
More worryingly, the order-in-council only addresses racism and bigotry directed against Jews and implicitly relegates to a lesser status the racism faced by other racial and religious minorities in Ontario reported below...
Pension Fund Capitalism and the Campaign to “Make Revera Public”
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- Published on Sunday, 08 November 2020 02:16
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Pension Fund Capitalism and the Campaign to “Make Revera Public”
The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed some of the damage wreaked by neoliberalism to a harsh new light. The erosion of workers’ rights to basic safety and livable wages, the particular exploitation of women, racialized and migrant workers in our healthcare system, and the destructive effects of for-profit corporate management of long-term care, have all combined to make a serious public health crisis into something far more deadly than it should have been. In this context, there is an especially bitter irony in the fact that one of the largest profiteers to benefit from these trends, the corporate long-term care company Revera, is 100% owned by the pension fund that manages the investment of federal government employee pensions (known as Public Sector Pension – PSP). However, as awareness of this ownership relation became public amidst the spiking death rates in Revera managed homes in May, the president...
Read more: Pension Fund Capitalism and the Campaign to “Make Revera Public”
Can you sign our open letter to tell Biden that Canada doesn't want Keystone XL?
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- Published on Saturday, 07 November 2020 10:38
- Written by editor
Paov,
This has been a long week. For the past five days, I’ve been wondering who is going to be the next president of the country to our south, and what that means for us and the climate.
Right now we have some sense of that. According to the Associated Press, CNN and a handful of other media outlets, Joe Biden is projected to be the next President of the United States.
As I’m writing this, it’s not clear if Donald Trump is going to concede the election. This means there is still a lot of anxiety over what the coming days and weeks will hold for the US.
But, even as we hold this uncertainty, we know that if Joe Biden is headed to the White House, the Keystone XL pipeline – a massive tar sands pipeline we’ve been fighting for more than a decade – could be cancelled.
Biden has pledged to stop the pipeline in his first 100 days in office, and that would be good news for people and the planet. But, last week Justin Trudeau made it clear that he and Jason Kenney are...
Read more: Can you sign our open letter to tell Biden that Canada doesn't want Keystone XL?
AHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!
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- Published on Saturday, 07 November 2020 09:16
- Written by editor
A,
I am laughing and dancing and crying all at the same time and just because there’s a good chance the US will have a President we can criticize and campaign against in a normal, sane way.
Gosh, it’s been a long, dark four years.
But, today we found out that there’s a future where SumOfUs members can again rally to bring the US into the fights that matter most to us: equal access to life-saving medicines, saving the planet, equity and peace.
Ahhhhh, I can’t really believe it!
Right now, US SumOfUs members are preparing to flood the streets, celebrating, planning and protesting to protect the results. We can stand with them by clicking here and sharing messages of solidarity, hope and visions for a future without Donald Trump and his corrupt coalition.
Thank you for all you have done and I can’t wait for all we will do together in the coming weeks, months and years!

I can’t wait for all we’re going to do together,
Emma and the SumOfUs team
SumOfUs is a community of people from around the world committed to curbing the growing power of corporations. We want to buy from, work for...
iPhones
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- Published on Saturday, 07 November 2020 05:40
- Written by editor
A,
Desperate families are taking some of the biggest tech companies to court -- over mines that turned into death traps for their children.
Together, we’ve already started to help them fight this case -- but these families still need your support to make this landmark lawsuit a success.
If you’ve saved your payment information with SumOfUs, your donation will go through immediately:
Donate CA$91 now Donate another amount
Thanks for all that you do,
Vicky and the team at SumOfUs
Here's the email I sent to you yesterday, with more information:
Children in the Congo are dying mining cobalt for Apple and Google’s phones. But these tech giants just claim that’s not their problem.
The kids’ desperate families have taken the fight to court...
The chance to make history
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- Published on Friday, 06 November 2020 11:02
- Written by editor

Hi Paov,
I emailed you on Monday about the urgent need for world leaders to step up and work together to beat COVID-19.
As we face another COVID-19 wave, Justin Trudeau and other world leaders can end the pandemic by joining forces at a...
Fires in Nigeria Camp Leave 7,200 Displaced People Without Shelter
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- Published on Friday, 06 November 2020 06:36
- Written by editor

READ
Fires in Nigeria Camp Leave 7,200 Displaced People Without Shelter
...Read more: Fires in Nigeria Camp Leave 7,200 Displaced People Without Shelter
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