There are some interesting dynamics going on with the NDP leadership race that we can track with numbers, see way below. And while numbers tell some stories, they don’t necessarily track intangible criteria of leadership qualities like these, which I would perhaps suggest in this order: intelligence progressive vision: social, political, economic, ecological justice policy [...]

Once in a while, something crosses my desk that makes me cross my eyes and pound my head against the desk in frustration. This is not one of those things. This is one of those things that makes me crinkle up my face and exclaim “What the hell?” If you haven’t been rubbing up against [...]

A while ago I wrote about the puzzling decision on the part of the Legal Services Society of BC to publish a handbook on sexual abuse against men that defined such things as being made to  ”feel embarassed” by a woman, being “criticized on performance” by a woman, or the withholding of sex as sexual [...]

I have a great deal of respect for Canadian Forces personnel. I have generally disagreed with virtually every one of their foreign deployments in my lifetime, but that is a criticism I make of our political leaders who order our forces to go here and there. I support our troops by encouraging the government not [...]

Hi! My name is Tia! I’m a radical, eco-terrorist, and enemy of the state now! Whee! (This is almost as random as the people Harper appointed to the senate the other day, and makes just as much sense.) Due to my fervent opposition to the Enbridge Northern Gateway Pipeline, I can now add these spiffy new titles below my name [...]

It’s really very simple. A front group for tarsands polluters is accusing opponents of being puppets of foreign interests. EthicalOil.org thinks only Canadians should be permitted to take part in the tarsands climate debate, which would exclude anyone or any group involving foreign resources or money. An organization called EthicalOil.org has attacked “foreigners and their [...]

Tragedy of the Market: From Crisis to Commons January 6-8, 2012 Vancouver/Burnaby All panelist biographies are here. Below are some lessons learned and observations from the sessions. Friday: The opening panel is recorded in the Twitter storify here. Saturday: My notes are here. Sunday: Opening Panel Radical Squares: Reflections on the Global Indignant Moment Nefertiti [...]

Tragedy of the Market: From Crisis to Commons January 6-8, 2012 Vancouver/Burnaby All panelist biographies are here. Below are some lessons learned and observations from the sessions. Friday: The opening panel is recorded in the Twitter storify here. Saturday: Opening Panel A Global Tradition: History of the Commons Silvia Federici Rebuilding our Commons will allow [...]

This weekend I attended Tragedy of the Market: From Crisis to Commons community gathering in Vancouver and Burnaby, sponsored by these groups and people. The basic premise is not so much that capitalism is broken, and we just need to fix it, but that neoliberal market fundamentalism is inherently broken when we’re thinking about sustainability, [...]

So I’ve just turned 45. What a sweet age! Instead of asking people to only bring a quirky 45rpm record to my party next month, I’d rather give people an opportunity to donate money to the Canadian Red Cross for Haitian earthquake relief. As many of you know, the case study in my master’s thesis [...]

  Despite very public chest thumping, trumpeting and proclamations by Enbridge, mainstream media and Hereditary Chief Elmer Derrick, the song remains the same: the Northern Gateway Project is unwelcome in Northern B.C.  As the angry, indignant and brave members of the Gitxsan Nation enter the fourth week of their blockade/crusade to oust those responsible for [...]

“I think Hannah Arendt did say somewhere in The Origins of Totalitarianism that the thesis of the modern state is: ‘Everyone should die.’” –Suffled How it Gush (pg. 74)  I have joked with my partner that I have a certain amount of angst regarding my future as any sort of “real” academic (read: employed). Mostly [...]

Clearly, the people living in Attawapiskat are existing in a crisis that represents Canada’s dysfunctional relationship with the first peoples. How can we truly “fix” Attawapiskat? By fixing the underlying broken relationship. Occupying #Attawapiskat in Twitter two weeks ago was a great start to engaging in serious improvements. Phase two begins now with a call [...]