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Gerry Caplan's blog

Gerald Caplan has an MA in Canadian history and a Ph.D. in African history from the School of Oriental and African Studies at the University of London. He is an author, teacher, media commentator, and social and political activist with a lifelong commitment to African development. He is preoccupied with genocide and genocide prevention, particularly the 1994 genocide in Rwanda, about which he has frequently written. He has been a consultant on African development issues to many United Nations agencies as well as to the African Union. His latest book is called The Betrayal of Africa. He writes a weekly online column for the Globe and Mail.

Blog - Gerry Caplan's blog July 15

When it comes to government, we're still being lied to

Gerry Caplan | The late investigative journalist I. F. Stone insisted that "All governments lie." From Kennedy to Clinton, Nixon to Harper, not one government has been able to turn that statement into a falsehood.

Blog - Gerry Caplan's blog July 8

Canada needs to do more to fight for gender equality

Gerry Caplan | It’s not too much to say that everywhere on earth there is a war raging against women and girls and that it shows little sign of waning. Gerry Caplan elaborates.

Blog - Gerry Caplan's blog July 1

Stephen Harper, you need an extreme makeover

Gerry Caplan | For the Prime Minister, more of the same is a recipe for electoral disaster. Stephen Harper needs to either start seeing his government the way most Canadians do, or go finish his hockey history book.

Blog - Gerry Caplan's blog June 24

Barack Obama and Tony Blair, together at last

Gerry Caplan | President Barack Obama and former U.K. Prime Minister Tony Blair's faux leftism and frail progressive façades make them perfect for each other. And bad for everyone else.

Blog - Gerry Caplan's blog June 17

The world will be poorer without Nelson Mandela

Gerry Caplan | Gerry Caplan reflects on the powerful legacy left to us by Nelson Mandela. On the night of his release from prison in 1990, everyone celebrating knew there'd never be another night like it again.

Blog - Gerry Caplan's blog June 12

Canada's lessons in democracy for Egypt and Turkey

Gerry Caplan | In some countries, those who disagree with their government's policies are vilified, demonized, accused of being unpatriotic and operating under the influence of malign foreign influences.

Blog - Gerry Caplan's blog June 2

What was Stephen Harper doing in Peru last week?

Gerry Caplan | While Senate and staff scandals bloomed in Ottawa, PM Harper was pursuing one of his fondest past times: promoting Canadian mining interests wherever they exist across the globe.

Blog - Gerry Caplan's blog May 27

Conservative attacks are nothing but bullying

Gerry Caplan | Bullying is an expansive phenomenon, running along a wide continuum, ranging from physical to verbal abuse. For some reason, society deems much of it to be perfectly acceptable, at least in politics.

Blog - Gerry Caplan's blog May 20

In politics, as in sports, the odds-on favourite usually wins

Gerry Caplan | Gerry Caplan offers some observations on last week's calamitous election result for the NDP and its implication across the country.

Blog - Gerry Caplan's blog May 13

The world has never been richer. So why are so many still poor?

Gerry Caplan | When an American graduate student uncovered errors in Reinhart and Rogoff's study upholding the merits of austerity, many thought its adherents would eat some crow. The laugh, as usual, remains on us.

Blog - Gerry Caplan's blog May 4

America's shameful history in Vietnam finally revealed

Gerry Caplan | Kill Anything That Moves: The Real American War in Vietnam is not just another history book. Its implications for today are both profound and unnerving.

Blog - Gerry Caplan's blog April 30

Why does the University of Toronto's radio station promote genocide denial?

Gerry Caplan | Commemorations to mark the 19th anniversary this month of the genocide against the Tutsi people of Rwanda have been taking place everywhere throughout the world. But not quite everywhere.

Blog - Gerry Caplan's blog April 15

Photo: Adam Scotti/Justin Trudeau/Flickr

Justin Trudeau, political leadership and new predictions for the future of Canadian politics

Gerry Caplan | Heaven knows where the Liberal Party would be today were it not for Justin Trudeau. We now have the answers to three of the central questions at the heart of Canadian political life today.

Blog - Gerry Caplan's blog April 8

John Baird's murky trip to the Middle East

Gerry Caplan | Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird is on a long visit to the Middle East. Like Canadian foreign policy in general these days, the exact purpose of the trip is a bit murky.

Blog - Gerry Caplan's blog April 1

'The Gatekeepers' a must-see look at Israeli-Palestinian conflict

Gerry Caplan | This film must be seen by anyone who wants to grasp Middle East realities. In a sane world, that would include the Prime Minister of Canada and certainly his Foreign Affairs Minister.

Blog - Gerry Caplan's blog March 25

The sins of the popes and the Vatican's enduring priorities

Gerry Caplan | Despite the apparently exhaustive coverage of the Vatican and its new pope, four fascinating matters remain hanging in the air, some raised, all unresolved.

Blog - Gerry Caplan's blog March 18

Hugo Chavez and the history of hostile interventions against left-wing governments

Gerry Caplan | It is a phenomenon rarely noted that virtually every left-wing government since the Second World War, almost all of them elected, has faced vicious, sometimes violent, obstruction by its enemies.

Blog - Gerry Caplan's blog March 11

Capitalism at work in conspiracy theories

Gerry Caplan | Maybe there is no sinister conspiracy. After all, capitalists must do what capitalists must do. It's in their nature.

Blog - Gerry Caplan's blog March 4

Justin Trudeau's ethical problem

Gerry Caplan | It's hard to understand how someone on an MP's salary, who also happens to be worth more than a million dollars, can rationalize taking large speakers' fees.

Blog - Gerry Caplan's blog February 25

New Pope, old Church

Gerry Caplan | For the many who wish the Catholic Church ill, including numerous Catholics, Cardinal Marc Ouellet of Quebec would be a welcome choice as the next Pope.

Blog - Gerry Caplan's blog February 18

Getting rid of the Canadian Senate zombie

Gerry Caplan | For decades the major responsibility of Hon. Senators was to be bagmen for the party that appointed them and to defend corporate interests against mob rule, a.k.a. the House of Commons.

Blog - Gerry Caplan's blog February 11

Rally at Allan Gardens. Photo: LexnGer/Flickr

The politics of Ontario teachers

Gerry Caplan | Whenever the next election falls, Ontario's teachers have made their intentions unmistakable. They're prepared to campaign against politicians who treat teachers as little more than a political tool.

Blog - Gerry Caplan's blog February 4

Photo: Senior Airman Brandi Hansen, U.S. Air Force/Released/Flickr

Our military objectives in Mali make no sense

Gerry Caplan | Do France's objectives for Operation Serval, its military intervention in Mali, make sense? This question matters to everyone, not least to the countries from which France is seeking assistance.

Blog - Gerry Caplan's blog January 28

Notes on the Liberal leadership races

Gerry Caplan | A veritable orgy of Liberal leadership races have transfixed Canadians. Well, three, anyway. In Ontario and the Dominion at large, the thrill is palpable.

Blog - Gerry Caplan's blog January 21

French soldiers patrol streets. Photo: Ian Glover/Flickr

Foreign military intervention wrong response to Mali crisis

Gerry Caplan | Another interminable foreign war by the white world against another group of Muslims is certain to fuel even more extremism, to provoke retaliation and to exacerbate the humanitarian disaster.

Blog - Gerry Caplan's blog January 14

Idle No More: Joining Canada's civil rights revolution

Gerry Caplan | In the Harper government, First Nations face a tough negotiating partner. A huge groundswell of non-native support for Idle No More will remind Stephen Harper that this movement is not going away.

Blog - Gerry Caplan's blog January 7

Don't blame the messenger for bleak news

Gerry Caplan | From now on, no more protecting readers from the whole truth, however unpalatable. It's humanity's record, after all, and while you can run away from it, you really can't hide.

Blog - Gerry Caplan's blog December 24

Lumps of coal to the world this year

Gerry Caplan | Humanity is yet again awash in injustice and oppression, much of which, as always, we are helpless to end or can't be bothered trying.

Blog - Gerry Caplan's blog December 17

What Julian Fantino needs to learn about international development

Gerry Caplan | Before going any further, the Minister of International Co-operation owes it to Canadians to talk to real experts in the field who'll explain to him the basic truths about international development.

Blog - Gerry Caplan's blog December 10

Bullies in power: Rob Ford, Stephen Harper and the politics of smearing and intimidation

Gerald Caplan | The Conservative technique for smearing their opponents is simply a form of political bullying. And it's been enormously successful.

Gerry Caplan's blog

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