It was a sweltering afternoon in late July 2002 when the armoured vehicles of the Toronto Police Emergency Task Force pulled up in front of our building. Quickly we started barricading the door with an old desk, if they were coming to kick us out we weren't going to make it easy for them. We waited tensely as the cops approached the door with submachine guns drawn. Our crime? We dared to take over an abandoned building in the middle of a housing crisis. We all survived that early raid and were eventually allowed back into the building where we lived for the next three months -- dubbing it the "Pope Squat" as we occupied it during the pontiff's visit to Toronto.

After 10 years exiled from office in British Columbia. -- and a decade of severe cutbacks under the BC Liberals -- the NDP says it is ready to take back power in 2013.

Earlier this month, 700 New Democrats from across B.C. gathered for the party's 50th anniversary and annual party convention. The convention saw no leadership race -- everyone attending wore a lanyard bearing, on orange string, the name of Adrian Dix. Rewind a year, and you'll recall some of the most bitter infighting in the party's history, with former leader Carole James -- whom Dix cites as a personal mentor and inspiration -- resigning after a mutiny.

In an interview with rabble.ca, Dix describes how the party intends to push forward in 2012 and beyond.

Tuesday November 22, is National Housing Day. 

Between 150,000- 300,000 people are homeless in Canada, and millions more are living in inadequate or unaffordable housing. And yet, Canada is the only major industrialized country without a national housing program. Aboriginal peoples, racialized communities, people with disabilities, women, seniors and other marginalized groups are disproportionately affected by housing insecurity. 

On National Housing Day join the Right to Housing Coalition for a rally to demand a national housing strategy and to support the Charter challenge to end homelessness.