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Archive for the 'History' Category


Canadian Government Can’t Block Wheat Board Spending | Bloomberg.com: Canada

Posted by Graham on 23rd June 2008

–Great news for all those that care about the wheat farmer. Independent farmers need the Wheat Board if they are going to survive in the face of the monopolies of the Agro-Corps.

Posted in Economics/Trade, Environment, History, Rights, Unions, World | Leave a Comment

LENIN’S TOMB: 65 hour working week

Posted by Graham on 13th June 2008

–Slowly, the neo-liberal reforms remove all the protections the working-class worked a century to get. An opt-out clause? How about a state responsibility clause where the state has the responsibility to make sure wages are high enough so that people do not have to work 65 hours a week to survive?

Posted in Economics/Trade, History, Rights, Unions, World | Leave a Comment

GTA town faces some ugly truths | Toronto Star

Posted by Faiz on 11th June 2008

Racist behaviour in our country’s “multicultural” metropolitan centres is often more vulgar and violent than outside. Here’s a perfect example.

“Last September there were a rash of disturbing attacks against Asian fishermen [just north of Markham, ON] … Six assaults were eventually reported to York police. Arrests have been made in five. Dozens more victims told stories of harassment, racial slurs, theft and assault on Chinese-language call-in shows. Incidents were reported as far away as Peterborough and Westport … Were these attacks racially motivated, or just a troubling example of tensions between locals and anglers, who are often Asian? As the debate raged, nine parked vehicles were vandalized with swastikas, anti-Semitic graffiti and homosexual slurs in late September … In late October, two men strung up a black-painted skeleton from a noose at the end of their yard in Keswick. The life-size dummy dangled from a flagpole beneath an oversized Confederate flag. It hung there for several weeks until a police officer noticed.”

Posted in Canada, Health, History, Rights | Leave a Comment

Native apology doesn’t address grim reality | Toronto Star

Posted by Faiz on 11th June 2008

“We could talk about so many other issues – the UN Declaration on Indigenous Peoples, First Nations poverty, drinking water – and the list is quite extensive.”

150,000 children were removed from their communities and put in the “residential school system”, and according to CBC Newsworld, this includes those kidnapped from their mothers immediately after birth.

Posted in Canada, Health, History, Rights | Leave a Comment

LENIN’S TOMB: “This is what a union is, fellas.”

Posted by Graham on 9th June 2008

–This was posted at the link above on Lenin’s Tomb. Great clip.

Posted in History, Rights, Unions, World | Leave a Comment

Hisham Bustani, “The Delusion of the ‘Clash of Civilizations’ and the ‘War on Islam’”

Posted by Graham on 30th May 2008

–The false duality between Eastern and Western “civilizations” continues to have footing in the liberal intellectual sphere. In depth analysis of history is needed to find the root causes of conflict and imperialism. Luckily, we have the Monthly Review providing some of that.

Posted in Articles, History, Socialist Theory, World | Leave a Comment

TROTSKY IN AMHERST, Nova Scotia

Posted by Dana on 19th May 2008

British officers and armed bluejackets boarded the Christianiafjord and in the name of the officer commanding the port called upon me, my wife, my two boys and five other passengers to leave the steamer. The reasons, they told me, would be given to me at Halifax. We answered that the demand was illegal and that we would refuse to comply. Thereupon the armed sailors, amid shouts of “shame” from a considerable number of passengers, bodily carried us aboard a naval cutter, which took us to Halifax under escort of a cruiser. A dozen of the sailors were busy with my struggling person when my elder boy ran to my assistance and planted his tiny fist in the officer’s face, crying, “Shall I hit him again, father?”

He was eleven years old: it was his first contact with British democracy

Posted in Canada, History, Socialist Theory, World | Leave a Comment

LENIN’S TOMB: Their ‘fascism’, and ours.

Posted by Graham on 16th May 2008

–An interesting article from Lenin’s Tomb about the Hamas and the history of the region.

Posted in History, World | Leave a Comment

Media Continues to Treat Unsubstantiated Allegations as Facts | venezuelanalysis.com

Posted by Graham on 15th May 2008

–A timely article exposing the myths the Media continue to tout that there is some formal connection between Chavez and the FARC given the article on CBC below.

Posted in History, Rights, World | Leave a Comment

Michael A. Lebowitz, “The Capitalist Workday, the Socialist Workday”

Posted by Graham on 27th April 2008

–Lebowitz writes on the significance of May Day and the reason to fight for a shorter work-day. The struggle is as significant today as it was back then.

Posted in Articles, History, Rights, Socialist Theory, Unions, World | Leave a Comment

Lenin

Posted by Graham on 22nd April 2008

-Happy birthday, Lenin.

Posted in History | Leave a Comment

Dan La Botz, “Confronting the Economic Crisis: The New Deal at 75 — Lessons for Today”

Posted by graham on 9th April 2008

–There is a lot to be learned from the outcome and implementation of The New Deal especially given the ongoing debate over the nature of the current downturn.

See also this report by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives.

Posted in Articles, Economics/Trade, History, Socialist Theory | 1 Comment

LENIN’S TOMB: The Liberal Defense of Murder

Posted by Graham on 4th April 2008

–Being an avid reader of Lenin’s Tomb but having no direct affiliation with the IS Tendency, I feel completely safe from being called a shill by suggesting that people buy and read this book. If you are in the peace movement then you need the analysis to attack the liberal apologists of imperialist war. If you are not in the peace movement that opposes imperialist war then you need to read this book as a kick to your head. Consider this an official Leftnews.org endorsement.

Posted in History, Socialist Theory, World | Leave a Comment

Aldermaston protest recalls the birth of CND - Home News, UK - Independent.co.uk

Posted by graham on 25th March 2008

–A new movement against nuclear armament. There is a long history in the UK of protests against the Bomb, hopefully the people will learn from their mistakes last time and merge the movement with others that fight for similar causes.

Posted in History, Rights, Unions | Leave a Comment

Dan La Botz, “The Economic Crisis, the American Working Class, and the Left: The Situation Today and the Situation in 1930″

Posted by Graham on 19th March 2008

–An interesting read of the history of the US Left.

Posted in Articles, History | Leave a Comment

Fidel Castro Will Not Run on Sunday to be President of Cuba

Posted by graham on 19th February 2008

–Long live Castro. Long live the Cuban revolution.

What really gets me about this is that the liberal media is having trouble with keeping their long held position of Castro being a dictator but at the same time trying to report the facts at this point — which are that he is not running for election to be president again.

Of-course, we cannot help but ask who might be up next. The Guardian.co.uk has some hypotheses.

Posted in Articles, History, World | Leave a Comment

Eduardo Galeano, “The Walking Paradox”

Posted by Graham on 18th February 2008

–This is a lists of facts and paradoxes of the history of imperialism and oppression. Worth the time to read.

Posted in Articles, History, Rights, World | Leave a Comment

Robert Fisk: Bloody end of man who made kidnapping a weapon of war - Robert Fisk, News - Independent.co.uk

Posted by Graham on 14th February 2008

–Fisk takes us through some recent history of Imad Mougnieh in Lebanon.

Posted in History, World | Leave a Comment

School of the future: Education minister’s dream closer to becoming a reality

Posted by Dana on 3rd January 2008

Here’s Kelly “the lumber jack” Lamrock ready to turn over our education system to do a few tricks for big-daddy Bill Gates. Don’t let Lamrock’s stage theatrics and flowery prose fool you. He’s out to earn a buck.

Polls show that Canadians want government to run schools, not private companies. But then again, Lamrock has already demonstrated he doesn’t care what parents want.

Privately owned and operated public schools foster the corporate takeover of education, they threaten the working conditions of teachers, and they put profit and shareholder’s needs over our children’s education.

Posted in Canada, History, New Brunswick | Leave a Comment

American Gangster in Montreal: The True Story of Hal C. Banks

Posted by Dana on 28th December 2007

Canada’s Sweetheart: the Saga of Hal C. Banks (1985) is a docudrama about the Seafarers’ International Union and its corrupt, Al Capone-like American leader, Harold Banks. It was co-written, produced and directed by legendary Canadian film maker, Donald Brittain. This film was based on the true story of American trade unionist, Harold C. Banks, turned Canadian labour leader in the 1950s and 1960s. The story is rife with political intrigue, corruption, scandal, and organized crime. Essentially, a convicted felon with a shady past is allowed into Canada to destroy the Canadian Seaman’s Union. It started with chains, bats, and pitched battles between communists and thugs (one such battle occurred in S.J. New Brunswick), and ends with fat-cat corruption and the complicity of the Federal Government. The true story and the film has all the trappings of a film-noir, or gangster inspired film, but these cinematic themes, and all the codes that they command, misses the broader, more important commentary that this chapter in Canadian history necessitates. This film is actually considered part of a minority genre known as working-class or labour films, but you’d never know it. Donald Brittain’s commentary overlooks key concepts in labour history that could have accentuated his film’s message.

Posted in Canada, History, New Brunswick, Unions, World | Leave a Comment

Development of Cooperatives and Employee Ownership, Quebec Style

Posted by Dana on 23rd December 2007

Interesting read about Quebec’s large cooperative movement. The forestry cooperatives are of specific interest for New Brunswickers thinking of alternative models after several catastrophic private capital failures.

Posted in Canada, Economics/Trade, History, New Brunswick, Rights, Unions, World | 1 Comment

Sydney Steel Corporation

Posted by Dana on 21st December 2007

A little reminder from our recent history.

Posted in Canada, History, New Brunswick, Rights | 1 Comment

A little cartoon outlining how the indiginous see Manifest Denstiny

Posted by Graham on 12th October 2007

–Caution: contains the truth.

Posted in Articles, History | Leave a Comment

Columbus toppled as indigenous people rise up after five centuries | Special reports | Guardian Unlimited

Posted by Graham on 12th October 2007

–The Columbus myth is at the top of the list of myths that need exposing in the US. The entire pseudo-history of the Americas rests on it.

Posted in History | 2 Comments

Analytical Monthly Review, “Today’s Neoliberal Hero — the Village Usurer”

Posted by Graham on 20th September 2007

–This is an interesting article everyone interested in neo-liberalism should read.

Posted in Articles, Economics/Trade, History, Socialist Theory | Leave a Comment

Mr. Lee Kyung Hae

Posted by Graham on 10th September 2007

–He killed himself on the fence in Cancun to protest the WTO. This is the extent to which farmers are affected by `free trade’.

Posted in Articles, Economics/Trade, History, Rights, World | Leave a Comment

“Why We Oppose the Indo-U.S. Military Ties”

Posted by graham on 4th September 2007

–Chomsky, Zinn, JB Foster, Klein, and Prashad have signed onto this open letter opposing military ties between India and the US.

Posted in History, World | Leave a Comment

Spirit of Che rises again as region is swept along on a pink tide | The Guardian | Guardian Unlimited

Posted by graham on 4th September 2007

–Looks like Che is back. Of-course, for some, he vision of a socialist South America never left.

Posted in Articles, History | Leave a Comment

“Chávez Proposes International of Left Parties”

Posted by Graham on 29th August 2007

–Chavez calls for a re-united Left within an international framework. For those that understand the Left’s history the title could read: Chavez calls for a new International. This contributor agrees.

Posted in History, Rights, Unions, World | Leave a Comment

LENIN’S TOMB: Lenin: a political moderate and humanitarian

Posted by Graham on 29th August 2007

–I am not saying that I agree with this statement (it is up to those that study history to debate whether Lenin was, in fact, a `humanitarian’) however, it is an interesting thesis.

Posted in Articles, History | Leave a Comment

The War On Working Americans

Posted by Graham on 29th August 2007

–Working people continue to be under attack. In the US, workers seemed to be losing ground over recent history but things are coming around lately.

Posted in Articles, History, Rights, Unions | 1 Comment

Robert Fisk: The forgotten holocaust - Independent Online Edition > Robert Fisk

Posted by Graham on 29th August 2007

–Robert Fisk writes about the Armenian genocide.

Posted in History | Leave a Comment

ZNet |Cuba | The Empire And The Independent Island

Posted by Graham on 21st August 2007

–A message from Fidel Castro.

Posted in Articles, History | Leave a Comment

YouTube - La Profecía de Bolívar

Posted by Graham on 25th July 2007

–A graphical rundown of the anti-imperial actions (for the most part) in South and Central America.

Posted in History, World | Leave a Comment

“The Icon”

Posted by Graham on 24th July 2007

Naji Al-Ali’s Handala lives on. Have a look at the impact a cartoon can have on the world.

Posted in Articles, History | Leave a Comment