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

Kristen Bell: This Is What a Feminist 'Good Place' Looks Like

Details: Published on Friday, 21 August 2020 11:04; Written by editor

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Kristen Bell: This Is What a Feminist 'Good Place' Looks Like

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International Aid to Lebanon Must Not Enforce Neoliberalism

Details: Published on Friday, 21 August 2020 01:42; Written by editor

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A Socialist Project e-bulletin ... No. 2174 ... August 21, 2020
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International Aid to Lebanon Must Not Enforce Neoliberalism

CADTM international

As activists in the international CADTM network we were deeply moved when hearing of the disastrous explosions that hit Beirut on Tuesday 4 August. In this press release we want to convey our solidarity to the Lebanese people who, for too many years, have had to suffer an unfair concatenation of murderous crises. We think that it is also important to expose political responsibilities and those who attempt to profit from the situation; it is even more important to try to find how the country can escape this vicious cycle.

It will take time to establish the truth about the specific causes of the explosion of 2,750 tons of ammonium nitrate in Beirut harbour in the early evening of 4 August, if it can ever be determined. However, what is evidenced by this catastrophe -- which caused at least 158 deaths and over 6,000 injuries -- is the extent to which the Lebanese State had abdicated its responsibilities. The country’s Prime Minister mentioned a...

Richard Smith LIVE on "China's Engine of Environmental Collapse"

Details: Published on Thursday, 20 August 2020 17:10; Written by editor

Richard Smith LIVE on "China's Engine of Environmental Collapse" r1 ...

Go fish

Details: Published on Thursday, 20 August 2020 16:26; Written by editor

Go fish r1 ...

Morneau's resignation is good news for the climate

Details: Published on Thursday, 20 August 2020 11:56; Written by editor

Paov,

It’s been a huge week. On Monday, Finance Minister Bill Morneau resigned and by Tuesday, Deputy Prime Minister, Chrystia Freeland, was appointed to the post.1

These changes have huge implications.

Morneau was one of the fossil fuel industry’s closest allies in the federal cabinet. He was also the architect of Justin Trudeau’s purchase of the TransMountain pipeline.2 Not only did Morneau commit an appalling $13 billion to TMX before the pandemic, he was hiding the pipeline’s growing cost for months.

With Morneau gone, we have our best chance to push the government to tell us the true cost of the TransMountain pipeline. Will you sign the petition calling on Prime Minister Trudeau and Minister Freeland to release the numbers immediately?

Shortly after Morneau’s resignation, Trudeau announced that he will prorogue parliament until September 23rd. Then, he’ll re-convene the House for a Throne Speech and a vote of confidence in the government. That means, in a few weeks, Justin Trudeau will present his new agenda for how Canada will recover from COVID-19.

When he prorogued Parliament, Trudeau made...

The Left in Belarus Is Fighting to Put Social Demands at the Heart of the Protests

Details: Published on Thursday, 20 August 2020 02:10; Written by editor

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A Socialist Project e-bulletin ... No. 2173 ... August 20, 2020
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The Left in Belarus Is Fighting to Put Social Demands at the Heart of the Protests

The police brutality in Minsk is often said to be without parallel in Europe: something that France’s gilet jaunes protestors would surely deny. Yet something definitely is changing in Belarus, after unprecedented popular support for opposition candidates challenged the twenty-six-year rule of president Alexander Lukashenko. When authorities claimed that he had taken 80 per cent of the vote in the August 9 election -- and crowds took to the streets to protest -- the state unleashed police terror against them.

The street demonstrations were initially dominated by urban youth. Yet, as I have shown in a recent article, the protest has in recent days changed form, expanding into a wider working-class movement involving widespread workplace mobilizations. Actions spanning most of the country’s biggest industrial sites have seen thousands of workers gathering, discussing their demands, and threatening a general shutdown.

So, everything in Belarus is said to be "unprecedented." Yet one can, indeed, find precedents, in Poland’s Solidarnosc or...

World Humanitarian Day

Details: Published on Wednesday, 19 August 2020 13:52; Written by editor

Take Action

It’s World Humanitarian Day — Help Ensure Vulnerable Children Keep Learning

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We're gearing up for a fight

Details: Published on Wednesday, 19 August 2020 12:00; Written by editor

This is a test r1

Dear BCCLA Supporter,

So much can happen in a short time.

Since the COVID-19 pandemic hit in March, things have changed at a dizzying rate. The staff at the BCCLA have been closely monitoring provincial and federal government responses to the pandemic. Many of these government responses are positive health measures to keep us safe and minimize the transmission of the virus. But we’ve also seen some changes that are cause for worry.

Imagine our provincial government enacting a broad power grab without democratic debate, crucial input from stakeholders, or without us hearing about it.

Will you make a donation of $50 to defend our democratic rights?

Last week, we told you about Bill 10 in Alberta and Bill 19 in BC, new laws that expand government powers and limit public accountability. These bills allow cabinet ministers to unilaterally write new laws without any oversight from the Legislative Assembly.

This is a problem. These new laws limit...

And now the next step

Details: Published on Wednesday, 19 August 2020 09:10; Written by editor

Show your solidarity on social media and share their story far and wide

We need to make as much noise as possible so that the fossil fuel companies can’t ignore the Pacific Warriors. You can help by gathering your family, friends, colleagues or community group to take a photo with a message of support for the Pacific Warriors. Hold up your message and post it to social media using the hashtag #StandUpForThePacific and include the link to this page so that your friends can show their support too:http://act.350.org/go/10055?aktmid=tm4852811.QTngaT&r3t=2&source=conf&utm_medium=email&utm_source=actionkit

We've prepared this pack to get you going. It gives you ideas of how to create the perfect image as well as printable posters you can hold up as part of your photo.

Once you have taken your photo email it to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. to make sure that the Pacific Warriors see your message of support.

Here is one that the 350.org Australian team prepared earlier:

The Warriors can’t do this alone and your messages of solidarity mean a lot.

In solidarity,

Aaron Packard on behalf of the 350.org team and the Pacifc Climate Warriors

350.org is building a global climate movement. You can connect with...

How is our work continuing in a pandemic? Find out in Quaker Concern!

Details: Published on Wednesday, 19 August 2020 06:36; Written by editor

Jennifer Preston, Romeo Saganash, and Steve Heinrichs. Romeo is a former MP and proponent of Bill C-262. Steve heads up the Indigenous-settler relations for Mennonite Church Canada. Photo: Jane Orion Smith.

Advocating for Indigenous Rights During a Pandemic

by Jennifer Preston

Usually at this time of year,CFSC’s Indigenous Rights Committee writes about our ongoing work with partners advocating for Indigenous peoples’ human rights at the United Nations. We had planned to be in New York in April for the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (PFII) and Geneva in...

Murdered for palm oil

Details: Published on Wednesday, 19 August 2020 05:16; Written by editor

Unilever is driving orangutans to the brink of extinction. The multinational’s greed for cheap palm oil is directly responsible for burning down the rainforests where orangutans live.

Can you chip in CA$92 to save the orangutans and expose Unilever’s greed?

“images

Donate CA$92 now

Fires are raging in Indonesia, burning forests to the ground to make way for palm oil plantations. As a result, critically endangered orangutans are on the brink of extinction.

Unilever buys more than 1 million tonnes of palm oil each year, and uses it in everything from Dove soap to Knorr soup. The corporate giant has promised to source its palm oil sustainably by 2020 -- but has failed to live up to this promise.

So far, the forest fires aren’t a big news story yet. We can change that.

We need to hire a video squad on the ground in Indonesia to capture footage of the forest fires -- armed with professional filming equipment and drones that can...

Read more: Murdered for palm oil

Saving Nemo

Details: Published on Tuesday, 18 August 2020 19:02; Written by editor

The Great Barrier Reef needs you!

Leaked contracts show British insurer Aon is organising a last ditch insurance deal for the most toxic coal project on earth: Adani’s Carmichael mine in Australia.

Dozens of companies have abandoned Adani. Can you add your voice and tell Aon to walk away from Adani now?

Sign the petition

Every week giant, rusty tankers weighed down with coal navigate through the most threatened natural wonder of the world: Australia’s Great Barrier Reef.

These heavy ships carried 29 million tonnes of coal through the Reef last year. Coal baron Gautam Adani wants to double that and rip open one of the largest untapped coal reserves in the world a few hundred kilometers inland from the reef.

But Adani needs insurance to build his mine.

SumOfUs members like you have already forced AIG...

Online Education and the Struggle over Disposable Time

Details: Published on Tuesday, 18 August 2020 01:58; Written by editor

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A Socialist Project e-bulletin ... No. 2172 ... August 18, 2020
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Online Education and the Struggle over Disposable Time

Pritha Chandra

During COVID-19 times, the ‘social distancing’ catchphrase has invaded every aspect of our lives. Public space has been fragmented into individualized, quarantined units, transforming social relations into aggregates of their interactions. Unlike other pandemics of yesteryears, COVID-19 has given a tremendous push to technology to secure social distancing. In the field of education, the phenomenon of online education was already slowly gaining space especially as complementary to traditional classroom education and as a mechanism of distance learning.

Today, the ideology of social distancing has brought online education in the centre of educational systems. It has acquired legitimacy and the capacity to take over the whole system of education. In countries such as India, where COVID-19 has been used by the state as an opportunity to revamp various sectors, including health and medicine, a reconception of education is underway. Online education serves as the organizing force in this regard.

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Win against TD and GEO

Details: Published on Monday, 17 August 2020 10:44; Written by editor

You did it -- you showed TD Bank, and the international banking industry, that we will hold them responsible every single time it tries to reinvest in private prison corporations.

Just 24 hours after you helped launch our campaign calling on TD Bank to divest from Trump’s favourite private prison company, GEO Group, the bank promised to recommit to never investing in the GEO again.

When we found out that TD Bank quietly bought tens of thousands of shares in GEO Group during the start of the pandemic, we started a petition. Within hours, more than 20,000 of you signed the petition and SumOfUs landed an exclusive story on Bloomberg News. In response to your pressure, TD told the Bloomberg reporter that it no longer holds the shares in GEO and commits to not have financial ties with private prison corporations in the future.

Due to the decades-long grassroots campaign, every single bank in the world committed to end financial ties with GEO and CoreCivic last winter. It was a massive win against the American prison industrial complex and the two companies that are responsible for building Trump’s concentration camps along the Mexican-US border where kids are held in cages and separated...

Read more: Win against TD and GEO

Racism, Palestine and the IHRA: Letter to Barrie City Council

Details: Published on Monday, 17 August 2020 03:12; Written by editor

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A Socialist Project e-bulletin ... No. 2171 ... August 17, 2020
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Racism, Palestine and the IHRA: Letter to Barrie City Council

Independent Jewish Voices Canada (IJV) applauds Barrie, Ontario, Mayor Jeff Lehman for withdrawing a motion to adopt the controversial International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) working definition of antisemitism on August 10, 2020.

Motion 8.2, Adoption of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) Definition of Antisemitism was due to be voted on by Barrie City Council on Monday evening. However, he withdrew it Monday afternoon on account of uproar by concerned Canadians, including many Barrie residents.

Barrie now joins several major Canadian cities which have considered adopting the IHRA definition, but have either had the motions withdrawn or defeated, including Montreal, Vancouver and Calgary. IJV rallied significant grassroots opposition in all four of these cities. Well over 100 IJV members and supporters sent letters to Barrie city councillors urging them to vote against this particular motion.

"This is another major victory for all who oppose antisemitism and support Palestinian human rights," said Corey Balsam, IJV’s National Coordinator. "We strongly believe that our safety as...

Shocking but Not Surprising: COVID and Class

Details: Published on Sunday, 16 August 2020 03:04; Written by editor

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A Socialist Project e-bulletin ... No. 2170 ... August 16, 2020
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Shocking but Not Surprising: COVID and Class

Eric Tucker

A recent Toronto Star article, by Sara Mojtehedzadeh and Jennifer Yang, "More than 180 workers at this Toronto bakery got COVID-19," and reproduced below, reveals a large COVID outbreak at FGF Brands, a major industrial bakery in Toronto, where 184 workers tested positive and one died. That outbreak began in mid-April, but we are only hearing about it now. On reading the article I was simultaneously shocked but not surprised. How can that be?

It is shocking when we read that the essential workers, who continued to report to their jobs through the COVID-19 pandemic, in this case literally to make our daily bread, are not adequately protected against the risk of workplace spread of infection. Whether through insufficient engineering controls, cleaning, physical distancing or provision of personal protective equipment, these workers were placed at a highly elevated risk of contracting this highly infectious disease. This is indeed shocking.

It is also shocking when we hear that the workers who are exposed to these...

Canada to spend up to $5 billion on armed drones

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

A Greenhouse in Nunavut Could Help Scientists Grow Food in Outer Space

Details: Published on Friday, 14 August 2020 11:02; Written by editor

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A Greenhouse in Nunavut Could Help Scientists Grow Food in Outer Space

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Water quality monitoring suspended in Canada

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

Limits of Ontarios Mineral Strategy: The Magino Mine Approval

Details: Published on Friday, 14 August 2020 02:56; Written by editor

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A Socialist Project e-bulletin ... No. 2169 ... August 14, 2020
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Limits of Ontario’s Mineral Strategy: The Magino Mine Approval

Joan Kuyek and Matthew Corbeil

On June 11, 2020, 21 lakes, streams and wetlands in northern Ontario were re-characterized as a mine tailings impoundment for the proposed Magino gold mine. This magical transformation took place through Schedule 2 of the Metal and Diamond Mining Effluent Regulation (MDMER) under the federal Fisheries Act. Although the Act says it is illegal to "put deleterious substances into waters frequented by fish," the MDMER creates a number of exemptions for the mining industry. As of July 2020, across Canada 64 "water bodies" are exempt. Prodigy Gold, the mine owner, now has the key permit to proceed with one of the largest gold mines in northern Ontario.

Prodigy Gold Incorporated, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Argonaut Gold Incorporated, is planning the construction, operation, decommissioning and abandonment of an open pit gold mine and metal mill located 14 kilometres south-east of Dubreuilville, Ontario. Mining would occur over 10 years. The on-site metal mill would have an ore input capacity of 35,000 tonnes...

Alternative News

Kristen Bell: This Is What a Feminist 'Good Place' Looks Like

International Aid to Lebanon Must Not Enforce Neoliberalism