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rabble series

A progressive reading list for the summer

Eleven stories on the future of the left in Canada have now run in rabble.ca's ongoing series: Reinventing democracy, reclaiming the commons: A progressive dialogue on the future of Canada.

Every Friday since May 20, stories that explore the options and possibilities have been published. The series is currently taking a hiatus for August, with our next story due to run after Labour Day on Friday, Sept. 9.

The series will run in this, rabble.ca's 10th year, and is curated by journalist Murray Dobbin.

We invite readers to take a look at what we've published so far, add comments to the bottom of each story, or participate in chat about what has been run in babble, rabble.ca's forum.

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rabble series

Beyond resistance: From the old to the new Left

Welcome to rabble.ca's extended series on the Canadian left -- Reinventing democracy, reclaiming the commons: A progressive dialogue on the future of Canada -- a look at where it stands after the 2011 federal election, and what the future can hold. The series will run in this, rabble.ca's 10th year, and is curated by journalist Murray Dobbin.

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the left activism social change Generation Y strategy progressive-dialogue
modest proposal

Seeking the democratic socialist in Canadian political life

Your father's socialism?: Tommy Douglas, leader of the NDP in 1971.

Open Letter for a "NEW" Democratic Socialist Party

Sisters and Brothers,

In his Oct. 9th, 2010 column, titled "The NDP: Not your father's socialism," John Ivison of The National Post wrote about the NDP's "metamorphosis of an old 20th-century socialist party into a vibrant 21st-century social democratic party." What exactly a "21-st century social democratic party" looks like is hard to discern though a few clues were provided by Ivison in a lower paragraph in the story:

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NDP the left socialism Canadian politics socialists social democracy democratic socialism
in her own words

So, Rob Ford is mayor! What do we do now?

So, Rob Ford is Mayor. I've been sitting on Facebook (my social media of choice) and watching the pain, fear and sadness descend on my friends and colleagues. There is shock that this happened. How could it? What does this mean? Who did this to us? But, they hate us gay, Chinese, cycling, latte drinking intelligentsia? Should I move?

Don't move! Create solutions!

Ever the optimist, I have been thinking about what this means for us. For democracy. For electoral politics. For the Centre for Social Innovation. For the citizens of Toronto.

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Toronto the left activism progressive politics rob ford
in his own words

Toward a democratic globalism

Marc Lee, of the B.C. office of the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, has proposed an excellent 12-part program for a reoriented and reinvigorated Canadian Left. He has done us a real service by identifying key themes that would define the Left and catalyze fundamental change:

• a universal guaranteed income program

• sectoral collective bargaining

• legal changes to rein in the power of corporations

• abolition of intellectual property (copyright and patents)

• public control of key economic sectors and infrastructures through regulation, nationalization or the creation of public corporations

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the left democracy socialism social change
Columnists

The Left: A lot of activity, but lacking definition

A spectre is haunting Canada, as Marx and Engels said in a different era (and not about Canada): the spectre of the Canadian left. But I think phantom would be a better term. As in phantom limb. Take two examples.

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the left activism Canadian politics fox news Liberal-NDP merger
Meghan Murphy

There is no feminist war on sex workers

By
Meghan Murphy
| February 4, 2013

I’ve become increasingly frustrated by what feels like a barrage of articles coming from self-described progressives claiming that feminists are the real enemy of sex workers. It seems as though some of those who position themselves as ‘sex worker rights activists’ are intent on creating rigid divisions among women, placing the prostituted woman in a category of her own and placing feminists in some illusory moralistic war against sex.

A key factor is that many writers on the left either misunderstand or misrepresent the abolitionist approach as a moralistic one, leading them to draw unfounded conclusions based on what could easily be resolved by having a simple conversation.

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Columnists

Nationalize the oil industry? How the left can make big ideas become policy

Thirty-five years ago the policies than now define democratic governance -- or rather anti-democratic -- in Canada were literally unthinkable.

Voluntarily giving up, through reckless tax cuts, hundreds of billions of dollars in revenue needed for running the country (and provinces); the fire sale disposal of some of the countries most valuable, efficient and productive crown corporations; the signing of corporate rights agreements like NAFTA that severely constrain elected governments from legislating on behalf of their citizens; the ruthless slashing of social spending; and the deliberate driving down of salaries and wages by government policy -- all now commonplace and once unthinkable.

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Canadian politics Economics neoliberalism politics in Canada the left

Is The Left Too Disunited?

So, I was looking up some stuff on wikipedia about federal poltical parties in Canada, and I couldn't help but notice something. We have quite a few smaller parties that don't have a seat in parliament, and most of them (with the exception of the CHP. the Libertarians and the Western Block), are basically parties of the left. Granted, the United Party and the Progressive Canadian Party are probably closer to the centre, but that would still put them to the left of the Conservatives.

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politics the left Canadian politics the right
Columnists

Ecologists, leftists and Rio+20

A thematic Social Forum focused on "Capitalist Crises, Environmental and Social Justice" was held from January 24-29, 2012 in Porto Alegre, Brazil. The dominant theme of the Forum was the upcoming Rio+20, the UN Conference on Sustainable Development taking place this June in Rio de Janeiro, 20 years after the famous 1992 UN environmental conference held in the same location. The great sociologist Boaventura de Sousa Santos has written a thoughtful report on the Porto Alegre event.

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Climate Change neoliberalism the left socialism ecosocialism environmental justice anti-capitalism environmentalism social movements leftists
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