An op-ed by renowned journalist John Pilger.

By Walden Bello | CounterPunch

“Bear Nicholas said she’d like the provincial government to introduce a program called mother-tongue medium (MTM) education, which has been used in other parts of the world so indignenous languages are not lost forever.

The First Nations language expert said this change would bring the provincial government into compliance with international linguistic rights standards, “which are routinely violated in Canada where First Nations children are concerned.”

Not only would this policy change help young people keep their languages, she said it would ameliorate other social problems.

“In the first place, it could avoid the expense and effort involved in addressing the poverty in First Nations communities associated with high dropout rates,” Bear Nicholas said.

“These include such social and financial costs as welfare, addictions, suicide, incarceration, and poor health. As one analyst has put it, it would cost far less to provide a private tutor in the mother-tongue to a child for nine years than it would cost to keep a person in prison for one year.”"

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Two people who were jailed during June’s G20 summit in Toronto have launched a $115-million class-action lawsuit against the Toronto Police Services Board, federal Attorney General Rob Nicholson and the Peel Police Services Board.

Mike Barber and Miranda McQuade, both of Toronto, are acting as representative plaintiffs for the approximately 1,150 people who were detained, arrested and incarcerated at a temporary detention centre in Toronto’s east end after police clamped down on demonstrators during the summit.

The suit was filed Thursday at the Ontario Superior Court of Justice in Toronto and also includes business owners whose property was vandalized.

The plaintiffs said in a statement of claim that they launched the suit to have the court declare that their constitutional and civil rights were violated, and denounce the conduct of the authorities during the G20 summit.”

The National Assembly elections in Venezuela, which will take place on September 26, will mark a turning point for the Bolivarian revolution. What is at stake is not only who will have a majority in the National Assembly, but the future of the revolutionary process itself. Hands Off Venezuela is organizing an International Day of Action in support of the revolution for 17th-18th September. In Canada, there will be solidarity events in four cities–Fredericton, Montreal, Toronto, and Vancouver. As well, please sign the petition of support at www.handsoffvenezuela.org .

UFCW: Hundreds of Guatemalan migrant workers and their community allies marched through Guatemala City to the steps of the Canadian embassy on Wednesday, to protest the abusive treatment of migrants under Canada’s Temporary Foreign Workers program. The workers at the protest had been fired and repatriated for defending their labour and human rights while working in Canada.

DIE LINKE (the Left Party) [of Germany] has initiated a debate on its draft party program, which it wishes to officially adopt in Autumn 2011. Neues Deutschland is joining this debate with a series of articles. In the Neues Deutschland article published on 9 August 2010, Michael Heinrich tackles the issue of the relationship between capital and the state and asks whether the “system change” proclaimed in the draft program is meant seriously.

Bruce Livesey: While free trade wiped out Mexico’s traditional agriculture, the drug cartels moved in | TRN

Lawrence Martin | G&M editorial | A Bring Back Democracy platform should start with reducing the powers of the PM to something a tad less than Mussolini’s

“Still embroiled in infamous sweatshop practices, NIKE is now running an ad with a background of a massive strip-mine or mountaintop removal operation in one of the most bizarre panders to Big Coal–and one of the most disrespectful slights of coal miners.”

Neither side in “The Great Stimulus Debate” has a clue that the problem for the U.S. is that a large chunk of U.S. GDP and the jobs, incomes, and careers associated with it, have been moved offshore and given to Chinese, Indians, and others with low wage rates. Profits have soared on Wall Street, while job prospects for the middle class have been eliminated. | Paul Craig Roberts | CounterPunch

by Ian Angus | Climate and Capitalism

Party says $210M can be saved by stopping last-minute spending each fiscal year | CBC News NB

Israeli historian Tom Segev on the founding of the state of Israel | The Real News

Federal study of successful reserves with rent-paying businesses prompts some bands to raise alarm over resource rights | G&M

“In any situation, a 97% strike mandate vote is extraordinarily high, though the workers at Loblaw are dealing with very exceptional conditions. Loblaw’s contract offer includes a proposed 25% cut to workers’ wages, increased waiting time for benefits eligibility, a reduction in full-time jobs, and the imposition of availability-for-work rules on part-time workers that would make it almost impossible for them to hold another job or attend school while working for Loblaw. Loblaw says that these concessions, as well as the greater “operational flexibility” resulting from the reduction in full-time jobs and the imposition of availability-for-work rules for part-time workers, are necessary for them to compete in an industry in which the majority of workers are no longer unionized. In an e-mail to the Toronto Star, Julija Hunter, Vice-President of Public Relations for Loblaw, justified the wage concessions and the greater job instability the company is asking their workers to accept by claiming that Loblaw pays “10 percent more than competitors and have 15 percent less flexibility.” She claims that this situation creates “a real competitive disadvantage” for the company and is “not sustainable.” Loblaw president Allan Leighton claims that Loblaw is at a disadvantage because most of its rivals are non-unionized, pay their employees less, and have more “flexibility.” Leighton has said, “This is a watershed period in our industry. It’s time for a change.” This shows the much broader importance of the battle currently being waged by Loblaw workers.”

“A UN anti-racism panel has demanded that France stop rounding up and expelling Roma people and slammed the increasingly “racist and xenophobic tone” of top politicians.”

By Patrick Cockburn | CounterPunch

rabble.ca | By Frances Russell | The tone of political discourse, already shifted sharply right with the advent of Conrad Black’s National Post in 1998, is about to leap further down that road. The signs are numerous and ominous.

“Mother nature will have the last word. Mad cow disease was a warning. Swine flu was a warning. MRSA was a warning. The egg recall was a warning. But we haven’t hit the big one yet.” | By Russel Mokhiber

“As a class conscious young worker, and a committed communist, Volodya was naturally opposed to capitalist restoration, but he was also critical of the corrupt bureaucracy that had undermined the gains of the October Revolution and, in most cases, gone over to capitalism. Looking for a radical alternative to the bureaucracy and capitalism, he first joined a small pro-Albanian Stalinist Party. He was present at the founding congress of the Russian Communist Workers’ Party (RKRP). But in the early 1990s, when Russia was plunged into a maelstrom by the capitalist counterrevolution, Volodya began to study the works of Trotsky. Through experience and discussion, he broke with Stalinism and wholeheartedly embraced the ideas of Leon Trotsky, the genuine continuer of Bolshevism-Leninism.”

“The findings counter the reports by a joint industry-government panel that the pollutant levels are due to natural sources rather than human development.

Mercury, thallium and other pollutants accumulated in higher concentrations in snowpacks and waterways near and downstream from oilsands development than in more remote areas, said a study to be published Monday afternoon in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences…

The study led by Erin Kelly and David Schindler of the University of Alberta also found that levels of the pollutants cadmium, copper, lead, mercury, nickel, silver and zinc exceeded federal and provincial guidelines for the protection of aquatic life in melted snow or water collected near or downstream from oilsands mining.”
- “Action to protect the environment: Only public ownership of the land, major industries, oil, mining and logging companies, energy and transport, can form the basis of a genuine socialist approach to the environment. Environmental plans would be measured in generations, not fiscal quarters.” –From the Fightback Programme