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It was a year of progressive insights and analysis from rabble.ca columnists! In 2014, our columnists spoke out about a range of issues in Canada, including labour struggles, abortion rights, climate justice, decolonization, privacy, politics and much, much more. Here, we review the year in columns and highlight some of our favourites from each month. For a complete selection of our columns, check out our columns section!

 

  • January

Thinking outside the mailbox to save Canada Post

Other companies and organizations that faced Canada Post’s problems thrived, not by doubling down on their old mandates but by refocusing on a new purpose, says Marc Zwelling. Is this the solution for Canada Post?

Tang and the panopticon: Lowering our expectations for privacy

Today, when the NSA is collecting private data, it’s easy to forget we once had privacy.  Wayne MacPhail uses a Tang metaphor to explain that it’s easy for us to think this is what privacy actually tastes like.

 

  • February

Left in Love: Will Chris and Nichole choose collective action?

On Valentine’s Day with matchmaker columnist Meghan Murphy, we launched Left in Love, a dating column for progressive daters who give a damn. Follow our first couple in their quest for radical love.

Harper’s plan to win the next election: Cheat

The Harper government introduced a parliamentary bill, laughingly entitled the Fair Elections Act, to boost their chances of winning seats in the next general election. As Duncan Cameron writes, this amounts to cheating in the next federal election.

 

  • March

The Tommy Douglas Institute: Igniting a commitment to social justice

In a time when the Harper government is cutting funding to Canada’s health-care system — and by extension transforming the national identity — citizens need to be re-introduced to Tommy Douglas. Co-founder Thomas Ponniah introduces us to the Tommy Douglas Institute and its mission.

 

  • April

Climate change, capitalism and our climate crisis mismatch

Naomi Klein explains why are suffering from a terrible case of climate-related mistiming — because the climate crisis hatched at a time when conditions were uniquely hostile to a problem of this nature and magnitude.

 

  • May

Harper takes a swing at the Supreme Court after losing yet another case

A recent string of well‑deserved thrashings in court have demonstrated that the Supreme Court is truly an independent, non‑partisan body, able to act as a check on the Harper government’s actions. Priya Sarin weighs the legal track record for the Harper government.

Harper’s dirty, divided game could win him another election

Watching Harper envenom not only the politics of the day, but hammer at our deepest societal framework is to wonder what will be left of our self-respect as a nation if he wins the next election. As Ralph Surette warns, the stakes of Harper’s dirty politics have never been higher.

Hassan Yussuff: A new voice for labour at the CLC

New CLC President Hassan Yussuff is asking whether unions can recapture issues of dignity, writes Ricks Salutin in this introduction to the new CLC head — and standing up with a voice for both traditional workforces and the new “precariat.”

 

  • June

Moving forward with the abortion debate

Abortion is a constitutional right that must not be infringed, and must be protected and enhanced, both here and around the world. As Joyce Arthur proclaims, let the “forwards abortion debate” begin!

Charge of the Policy-Light Brigade ended predictably for Andrea Horwath

Whether you liken Andrea Horwath’s 2014 campaign to the Iraq invasion, Custer’s Last Stand, or the Charge of the Policy-Light Brigade, it ended, predictably, in confusion and slaughter. Ish Theilheimer looks back at the Horwath campaign — and what went so wrong.

Design for Democracy: Hope begins at the ballot box

Hope is resilient; power gained by disinformation is brittle and punitive. On the eve of the Ontario election, Elizabeth Littlejohn considers the perils and pitfalls of Tim Hudak’s plan for the province.

 

  • July

Challenging the media information blockade of Gaza

The latest assault on Gaza reaffirmed the key role played by the media in maintaining an information blockade. As Amy Goodman explains, it also highlights the increasing importance of pressure applied by social networks.

 

  • August

Then and now: Shining a light on labour struggles

While the horrors of 19th-century coal mining are behind us, today we face similar challenges and examples of labour struggles, notes Pat Kerwin in this evocative column. And we face the same voices telling us we can’t improve things.

Mount Polley: Mining is disaster

The mining industry is a key example of Canada’s colonial and capitalist foundations, devastating the environment, dispossessing communities, and committing egregious human rights violations. By its very definition, mining is disaster, as Harsha Walia powerfully argues.

Dismantling the myth of Canada’s economic recovery

Ever since the global meltdown of 2008, it’s been an article of faith in Canadian economics that we somehow handled the whole mess better than the rest of the world. In this piece, Jim Stanford puts the lie to the myth of Canada’s economic recovery.

 

  • September

A number is never just a number: Lac-Mégantic crude

The number of carloads of oil transported by rail in 2013 totalled 160,000. That’s set to triple to 510,000 carloads a day by 2016. Trish Hennessy crunches the numbers to ask: where are the regulations for shipping oil by train safely?

Work in the age of anxiety

Why is there no militancy today among working Canadians, why no sustained and focused solidarity or courage in facing powerful adversaries? Murray Dobbin argues that the answer is rooted in an anxiety that defines our society.

 

  • October

Canada is now the world’s leading ‘deforestation nation’

The world’s last remaining forest wilderness is rapidly being lost — and as Stephen Leahy reveals, much of this is taking place in Canada, not in Brazil or Indonesia where deforestation has so far made the headlines.

‘Okpik’s Dream’ examines Inuit man’s life through dog sledding

In Okpik’s Dream, filmmaker Laura Rietveld follows the life of Harry Okpik, an Inuit community leader and a well-known musher who competes yearly in Nunavik’s gruelling 600-kilometre Ivakkak race. June Chua speaks with Rietveld about the making of the film and its view into Okpik’s life.

Reflections on a violent day in Ottawa

The tragic events in Ottawa after October’s shooting gave us an opportunity to examine our addiction to violence as the solution to conflict, observes Matthew Behrens in this powerful column. Will we use the chance to disengage from our increasingly militarized culture?

 

  • November

New report documents federal clampdown on scientists’ freedom of expression

A new report, “Can Scientists Speak,” finds that federal media policies in Canada remain highly restrictive and gives low to failing grades to nearly all 16 departments that employ scientists. Ole Hendrickson considers what this means for Canada’s scientists.

Canada’s rapidly growing wealth gap remains off the political agenda. Why?

The dramatic increase in the incomes of the wealthy is surely one of the most significant changes in our society in recent years, Linda McQuaig points out. Yet it is never treated as a pressing issue that must be addressed. Why?

Ten years after the Arar Inquiry, what has changed?

A decade ago the Arar Inquiry started, and light was about to be shed on some of the darkest chapters of Canadian history. In this insightful piece, Monia Mazigh reflects on what has really changed since then — and what has remained the same.

 

  • December

Anti-terror bill C‑44: Pushing the limits of Canadian rights

Bill C‑44 is a systematic attempt by the Harper government to circumvent the limits Canadian courts have placed on its investigative and surveillance powers, through legislative amendments. Shelina Ali explains how the bill deliberately pushes the limits of Canadians’ basic rights. 

The CRTC, open access, and the future of high-speed Internet

At stake in a new CRTC consultation is whether Canadians will be able to access affordable, independent, and reliable Internet services that support their everyday well-being. In the Digital Freedom Update, Steve Anderson and Josh Tabish look at what it means for the future of high-speed Internet in Canada.

Spreading holiday cheer by debunking health-care myths

Does medicare cost too much? Will the “obesity epidemic” be the end of us all? No and no. Just in time for the holidays, Julie Devaney debunks some of the most enduring myths about public health care.

Photo: Sonja Alves/flickr