Public Dialogue
Situations: The Left’s Responses to the Crisis in Europe & North America

Leo Panitch, Stephanie Ross, Albert Scharenberg, Bill Fletcher

December 1, 7 PM
Wilson Hall, Room 1016

New College, University of Toronto
40 Willcocks Street, at the corner of Spadina.
Free admission

For info: northatlanticld@gmail.com
Left Dialogue Blog

Sponored by the Rosa Luxemburg Foundation, the Centre for Social Justice, and the Socialist Project.

Rabble.ca | By Lorraine Chisholm | Millionaires Rob Ford and Don Cherry painted themselves as blue-collar guys at Ford’s inauguration in early December. Brian Topp says they are a lot smarter than progressives give them credit for.

By Tariq Ali | Source: Mediapart [via Znet]

The following are three brief, consecutive contributions by Rick Wolff, on this topic, presented to a workshop organized by the North Atlantic Left Dialogue in Berlin, Germany, November 20-21, 2010.

Slavoj Zizek, the philosopher and cultural critic, on the collapse of society and the failure of capitalism. | Riz Khan | Al-Jazeera English

This is the first in a conference series organized by the Forum on Capital as Power and sponsored by Routledge and Springer. The present meetings explore the dual crisis of capital and theory. There are 21 scheduled presentations, including keynote addresses by Herman Scwhartz and Randall Germain and guest presentations by George Comninel, Leo Panitch, David McNally and Jonathan Nitzan. The conference closes with a roundtable interrogation of capital, power and the future of political economy. Attendance is free and all are welcome.

DATE/TIME/PLACE:

October 29-31, 2010 || York Lanes, Rooms 280N & 280A || Keele Campus of York University

Wednesday October 27th, 2010, 12:30pm – 2pm
Founders College 305, Senior Common Room

Representing Addameer Prisoners’ Support and Human Rights Association, Mr. Ala Jaradat will discuss contemporary issues facing Palestinian political prisoners including the failures of Israel’s military court system, widespread use of administrative detention and the arrest and ill-treatment of children and human rights defenders in the oPt (occupied Palestinian territory). Of importance, Mr. Jaradat will highlight Addameer’s research on cases of arrest and detention of Palestinian, international and Israeli human rights defenders involved in demonstrating against the illegal construction of the Wall and against Israel’s human rights violations in East Jerusalem.

See also: Anger at West Bank protester’s sentence | The Independent

“The British Foreign Office last night expressed concern over a one-year prison sentence handed down by a military court to Abdallah Abu Rahma, a leader of unarmed anti-occupation protests in the West Bank.”

Video from Al-Jazeera: Empire special – Islam and America

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.

Thinking about the future is something the left has always done. A basic precept is that the next society is already emerging out of the old society. This is what I see could happen in Canada. | Duncan Cameron | rabble.ca

From a debate at the Progressive Economics Forum.

When it comes to feelings about the monarchy, apathy is the Canadian way. The most recent poll, conducted in honour of the ongoing royal visit, found that almost half of Canadians believe the monarchy is “a relic of our colonial past that has no place in Canada today.” | Leah McLaren | The Globe and Mail

The events at the Saturday G20 demonstration in Toronto last week have provoked a series of responses already. This article is not meant to review the events of the day itself, but to look at the questions raised by the demonstrations and tactics used for the left. | Ritch Whyman

A friend drew my attention to this op-ed. Opinions, responses? Click on “comment” and get the discussion going.

Fightback is fully mobilizing for the G20 and is sponsoring a series of events:

Latin America Challenges the G8: Danger of new conflicts
Sat June 20th: 10am – 12noon
Victoria Building, Room 209, Ryerson University, 285 Victoria Street

Iran: From Military Threat to Revolution
Sat June 20th: 4pm – 5pm
Victoria Building, Room 202, Ryerson University, 285 Victoria Street

Fight Back Against the G20
Sat June 26th: 7pm – 9pm
Imperial Pub, back room, 54 Dundas Street East
Read the rest of this entry »

This document was drafted in the Spring of 2010, and discussed, amended, and approved at the May 2010 National Congress of the Workers International League. A new phase is opening up in U.S. politics and the Labor Movement as American workers find their backs against the wall and have no option but to fight back.

Private member’s bill that would require future Supreme Court justices to be bilingual divides legal scholars | This article also contains other links to some opinion pieces on the topic. These bring to mind a question: What should the stance of the progressive left and socialist left be on the matter of official languages? Consider the discussion open. Any takers? Please post comments.

“The “isms” words (racism, sexism, anti-semitism) refer to power relations that are historic and embedded, and these relations do not flip back and forth. The same groups that have historically held power in the US and Canada, continue to do so.”

“University of Ottawa students embody the spirit of student activism. Thank you, students.

Özlem Sensoy, Assistant Professor
Faculty of Education, Simon Fraser University ”

– Neil MacDonald’s opinion falls far short of the analytical power of Sensoy.

“British PM promises to abolish appointed legislature, replace it with U.S.-style elected Senate, if re-elected”.
What does this mean for Canadians and our upper house. The BNA Act of 1867 says that Canada shall have a “Constitution similar in Principle to that of the United Kingdom”. Most Canadians support and elected Senate. Will reform be far behind?
It is also strange that Brown is not proposing an upper house constituted on the federal principle – that each county would have the same number of seats, or that England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland would have a (more) equal number of seats. These are questions that the British people should be allowed to discuss and decide on.

Also see Organizing for the Anti-Capitalist Transition | MR Zine

Chavez’ proposal for a Fifth International is “a political thunderbolt and should initiate new and broad discussion of the role of internationalism in the struggle against imperialism and for socialism. Such a discussion can only contribute to our ideological and political consciousness. We are at the very beginning of a process and it would be wise to reserve any tendency to hasty judgment.”

“The 300 delegates to the Québec solidaire convention voted unanimously, with a standing ovation, to endorse the campaign for boycott, divestment and sanctions “against Israeli occupation, colonization and apartheid.” … The Coalition pour la Justice et la Paix en Palestine comprises 17 – now 18, with the inclusion of Québec solidaire – organizations in Quebec: Jewish, Muslim and Christian groups, NGOs, the Quebec Federation of Women (FFQ) and a major teachers’ union affiliated with the Confederation of National Trade Unions (CSN).”

Leftist groups in Anglophone Canada are risking being left behind on the wrong side of history by not endorsing the BDS campaign.