babble is rabble.ca's discussion board but it's much more than that: it's an online community for folks who just won't shut up. It's a place to tell each other — and the world — what's up with our work and campaigns.
Where is the outrage on the Rabble's Front Page about the NDP's continuing support of the bombing of Libya?
Where is the anger on the Rabble front page? Why are no there articles about this outrage of foreign policy?
Are the writer's at Rabble supporting the NDP's position? If any other party other than the NDP supported this war crime, there would be dozen of articles about the war criminals in the Conservative and Liberal parties.
If being progressive means you will not talk about the wrong doings of the NDP in public, then I will label myself as something different from now on.
The NDP didn't launch this dirty war, the vicious toadies did. Welcome to the dirty war of worst-past-the-postian politicking. Because the NDP are going to play these toadies for all they are worth over the next four years. No surrender. Scorched earth. Herr Harper will have to move to the States after that if he wants to continue snivelling and grovelling to US power. That's the best part.
I am not really surprised, I have been looking at other pro-NDP sites and there is no outrage about the issue at hand. It appears the top end party leadership and supporters are fine with this illegal war.
If any other party other than the NDP supported this war crime, there would be dozen of articles about the war criminals in the Conservative and Liberal parties.
Other parties than the NDP have supported this war crime (escalating the war on Libya.) All of them (except the Greens) in fact.
Yet there are in fact, no articles on Rabble about the war criminals in the Consevative and Liberal parties since the vote to escalate.
... No surrender. Scorched earth. Herr Harper will have to move to the States after that if he wants to continue snivelling and grovelling to US power. That's the best part.
You believe that the NDP has adopted a fatalistic approach, then?
The NDP is going to achieve what you describe above through enabling Herr Harper and his merry band of Cons in their programme of destruction.
I am not really surprised, I have been looking at other pro-NDP sites and there is no outrage about the issue at hand. It appears the top end party leadership and supporters are fine with this illegal war.
It's the same problem many antiwar/anti-interventionist Democrats in the U.S. face with 'their guy' in the White House.
They won't criticize the Afghan (Af/Pak) war after Obama had troop and drone strike surges of his own there. They won't criticize the Iraq war after Obama's footdragging when it comes to bringing the troops home. They won't criticize the Libya war, now that this is a war of his own.
I remember a comment not long ago that Rabble is the only place the NDP get a fair shake. Even when they're the wrong, apparently.
ETA: oops! Rabble did publish a great article calling for the return of the Waffle.
Time to put the Waffle Manifesto back on the NDP's table
http://rabble.ca/news/2010/12/time-put-waffle-manifesto-back-ndps-table
(it's BC - centric, but still good)
excerpt:
What is required is nothing short a "new kind of politics." A waffle of the 21-century, a new manifesto with a real vision that is not encumbered by the old divide of left and right politics. A kind of politics that rises above petty partisan debate about meaningless details and instead tackles the hard issues of the day. The issues relevant to us all young and old alike. An exercise that is positive and inclusive versus negative and marginalizing. No more divide and conquer instead unite and overcome.
realistically, political parties will only go where they're pushed; so in many ways, this blatant failure by almost the entire body of elected canadian federal political representatives points to a failure at a much deeper societal level - the lack of a robust, proactive peace sector in canada, and indeed in north america.
the large (but reactive) canadian opposition to the (2nd) invasion of iraq helped limit canada's involvement (though we were still the 4th largest participant, after the u.s.,britain, and australia).
but little infrastructure is left over, let alone built on, so here we are again, how many years into afghanistan, how many months into libya, pinning our hopes on a political party to throw us (and more to the point, libyans) some scraps - maybe some of those new mp's will vote against it...
-
but anyway here we are. so in trying to understand the dynamic of the vote, and perhaps bring leverage to this ongoing situation, i guess a basic question in regards to the mp's is, do they really believe they are doing the right thing, or are they being opportunist / pressured?
if they're believers, then there is opportunity for education. either way, then they must feel the displeasure of their constituents.
Babble gets all sorts of NDP-critical contributors: right-wingers and Liberals masquerading as disgruntled NDPers (quite common at election time), right-wingers and trolls who can't tell the difference between an NDPer and anyone else on the left, left wing NDPers, left wingers who "critically support" the NDP, more left elements with a range of critical views of the NDP, and so on.
There are also a couple of NDPers who post here. lol.
Anyway, for loyal Dippers it's probably confusing at times. C'est la vie.
... No surrender. Scorched earth. Herr Harper will have to move to the States after that if he wants to continue snivelling and grovelling to US power. That's the best part.
You believe that the NDP has adopted a fatalistic approach, then?
The NDP is going to achieve what you describe above through enabling Herr Harper and his merry band of Cons in their programme of destruction.
I think the NDP will take the same tack that left Lib Dems and Republicans are taking against Obama. They will demand that the Harpers identify for the public record what their goals are in Libya and what the exit strategy is. The NDP will demand accountability and transparency, and our 24 percenters with 100% of power will bend and twist in the wind trying to avoid the fact that their policy for Libya is in-synch with that of Warshington, London, Paris and the same as it is for democrats in Ryadh, Manama, Islamabad, Tel Aviv and Cairo.
And in four year's time NDP strategists will be proven correct in that Canadians will have forgotten all about Libya and moved on the more pressing issues, like the stubbornly high unemployment levels and shit show Tories bad record on the environment, pensions, and general all around incompetence. Come 2015 Harper will be about as popular as Brian Mulroney was by 1993, and about as electable as R.B. Bennett was by 1935. Canadians will wonder how in hell they were ever elected in the first place. And that's generally true of all bought and paid-for stoogeaucrats and senators alike who are invariably shoved into those jobs by big money interests. They are never really the people's choice.
men the outcome of the vote would not matter regardless of what the NDP does, i personally have a lack of interest in federal politics at the moment..I guess one of the reasons for the lack of coverage is that the decision was so expected from the NDP...Layton has never been much anti-war for the last couple of years, and its not something he really talks about on the campaign trial..so no suprises there..theres no point of complainning for this less than ideal vote from the NDP since the election result was already so distorted due to outdated electoral system, many have become so used to low expectation from federal politics..its not like there is another party choice
political apathy is one of the biggest winnners of the recent federal election, the people who have problem with the NDP not being left enough probably do not even care to write an article against the NDP when really theres nothing worthy of supporting or writing home about from the canadian parliament at the moment..
Todrick, both Derrick O'Keefe and Murray Dobbin have been writing extensively for months advocating against military intervention in Libya. Derrick, a former editor of rabble, leads StopWar and is one of the major national voices against he operation, so I don't know where you ascertained that rabble supports the NDP position. rabble also always accepts submissions, so if you or somebody you know wants to pitch a story or editorial, you are welcome to.
I do agree with you that it would be great to see more criticism of this absurd deja-vu invasion, including of the NDPs craven support. I am sure you will see more of it soon, as soon as Derrick blogs about it again, for example.
I understand that Derrick O'Keefe and Murray Dobbin have been writing about the illegal war in Libya however they have been abnormally quiet since Tuesday's vote.
Not one peep from them, normally they are very active about pointing out the errors of the conservatives and the liberals parties policies (within a few hours) about the Libya however when the NDP shores up the support for the war, they and the rest of rabble is silent on the issue.
I have my doubts that either will talk ill towards the NDP but I hope that I am wrong.
Derrick tweeted almost immediately about the NDP's shameful capitulation. Not on this site, of course, but even so. I don't see why he wouldn't repeat that criticism here.
Yes it would be an ideal situation if Libya was the only country in the world where the USA and its white, powerful European allies were interfering politically and militarily for many years. In that case, the NDP would surely be the rat under the floor boards making chaos in a democratic and peaceful world order of things. But we know that is not close to the truth.
Rich and powerful white people in this country were expecting the NDP to be Johnny opposites to their hirelings in phony majority power. They wanted the NDP to sound like the Bolsheviks and Stalinists they accused Tommy and the CCF of being in the 1940s and 50s. The propaganda machine needs to clearly identify us as the enemies of everything good and wonderful here in the land of freedom and democracy. And we know that would be a terrible lie as well. The establishment media works on the basis of lies and propaganda, and I've seen it already in the newspaper with Monte Solberg referring to the NDP as axe murders with a consience on economic issues. The propaganda machine is waiting to pounce on the NDP at every turn. We can't let them. We owe it to too many people to run these stooges out of town on a rail by high noon next snap election call for short term political gain sometime in October 2015. Mark your calendars, buckle-up, and then throw that date in the garbage, because Steve our big stooge with the vacant and lifeless eyes will be driving the bus for for the next four.
Backing the extension doesn't protect the NDP from anything, Fidel. The people who would have bashed the party for that won't stop bashing it until they've made it agree to Blairize itself totally on foreign policy...which I assume even YOU would object to, since a government can't be hawkish on foreign policy anymore and still have the resources to make any meaningful social change at home.
They were Liberal and Tory governments that put Canadian troops in Afghanistan.
They were Liberals in government with Tories backing them up all the way on handing over Arar and Khadr to their torturers.
And it was this Tory governnment that sent war planes to Libya without any help whatsoever from the NDP - they didn't actually need NDP support. The NDP knows full well that they pulled no trigger on Libya.
Our corrupt stooges needed no prompting from the NDP only their bosses in Warshington.
When Uncle Sam orders our corrupt stooges to jump, their only response is to blurt out,
HOW HIGH SHALL WE JUMP THIS TIME, UNCLE SAM, AYE-AYE ON THE DOUBLE!
Their trained seals in Ottawa are Johnny on the spot when it comes to French kissing Uncle Sam's derriere. Uncle Sam's obedient lap dogs in Ottawa are always glad to do it and never balk or complain. They do what comes natural for them as always on-time every time, so let's not kid ourselves here that the NDP gave them any encouragement or the like. Canadians are embarrassed to hell about it long time, Ken. There is really no need to rub it in or drag the NDP into this disgusting, long time federal toadying to US power. Nobody kisses American ass better and for as long as the decades-long parade of vicious toadies and obedient lap poodles in Canada's two old line parties. Nobody!
I have a huge disdain for how posters like Fidel give a knee-jerk defense/cover/support for the spinelessness of the NDP. I also do not assume, as others have, that because Murray Dobbin has not put up an immediate reaction to the NDP cave, that somehow he is a part of any deflection (rare for me to agree with Catchfire).
That being said, however, there is not much of a real articulate force against what is going on in Libya from a Canadian perspective save for the really marginal sites such as New Socialist. The Canadian Peace movement has been weak on analysis forever as I can remember. Too much neo-paganism, too much Johh Lennon lyrics/memorialization, too little infrastructure for real dissent. There as been way too much confusion about supposed righteous interventionism (ie witness the various Greens globally re: Kosovo during the early 90's). This goes to a real need for a renewal of intelligence, of intellectual self-defense (in contrast to empty pseudo-intellectualism a la Zizek). That is what is needed but we first have to agree to that; right here, right now that does not look good.
I have a huge disdain for how posters like Fidel give a knee-jerk defense/cover/support for the spinelessness of the NDP. I also do not assume, as others have, that because Murray Dobbin has not put up an immediate reaction to the NDP cave, that somehow he is a part of any deflection (rare for me to agree with Catchfire).
That being said, however, there is not much of a real articulate force against what is going on in Libya from a Canadian perspective save for the really marginal sites such as New Socialist. The Canadian Peace movement has been weak on analysis forever as I can remember. Too much neo-paganism, too much Johh Lennon lyrics/memorialization, too little infrastructure for real dissent. There as been way too much confusion about supposed righteous interventionism (ie witness the various Greens globally re: Kosovo during the early 90's). This goes to a real need for a renewal of intelligence, of intellectual self-defense (in contrast to empty pseudo-intellectualism a la Zizek). That is what is needed but we first have to agree to that; right here, right now that does not look good.
Where is the anger on the Rabble front page? Why are no there articles about this outrage of foreign policy?
Are the writer's at Rabble supporting the NDP's position? If any other party other than the NDP supported this war crime, there would be dozen of articles about the war criminals in the Conservative and Liberal parties.
If being progressive means you will not talk about the wrong doings of the NDP in public, then I will label myself as something different from now on.
The NDP didn't launch this dirty war, the vicious toadies did. Welcome to the dirty war of worst-past-the-postian politicking. Because the NDP are going to play these toadies for all they are worth over the next four years. No surrender. Scorched earth. Herr Harper will have to move to the States after that if he wants to continue snivelling and grovelling to US power. That's the best part.
I am not really surprised, I have been looking at other pro-NDP sites and there is no outrage about the issue at hand. It appears the top end party leadership and supporters are fine with this illegal war.
Other parties than the NDP have supported this war crime (escalating the war on Libya.) All of them (except the Greens) in fact.
Yet there are in fact, no articles on Rabble about the war criminals in the Consevative and Liberal parties since the vote to escalate.
You believe that the NDP has adopted a fatalistic approach, then?
The NDP is going to achieve what you describe above through enabling Herr Harper and his merry band of Cons in their programme of destruction.
It's the same problem many antiwar/anti-interventionist Democrats in the U.S. face with 'their guy' in the White House.
They won't criticize the Afghan (Af/Pak) war after Obama had troop and drone strike surges of his own there. They won't criticize the Iraq war after Obama's footdragging when it comes to bringing the troops home. They won't criticize the Libya war, now that this is a war of his own.
realistically, political parties will only go where they're pushed; so in many ways, this blatant failure by almost the entire body of elected canadian federal political representatives points to a failure at a much deeper societal level - the lack of a robust, proactive peace sector in canada, and indeed in north america.
the large (but reactive) canadian opposition to the (2nd) invasion of iraq helped limit canada's involvement (though we were still the 4th largest participant, after the u.s.,britain, and australia).
but little infrastructure is left over, let alone built on, so here we are again, how many years into afghanistan, how many months into libya, pinning our hopes on a political party to throw us (and more to the point, libyans) some scraps - maybe some of those new mp's will vote against it...
-
but anyway here we are. so in trying to understand the dynamic of the vote, and perhaps bring leverage to this ongoing situation, i guess a basic question in regards to the mp's is, do they really believe they are doing the right thing, or are they being opportunist / pressured?
if they're believers, then there is opportunity for education. either way, then they must feel the displeasure of their constituents.
what do people think in regards to that question?
1. Rabble/babble is a NDP freindly sight? Who knew, that the type of attacks here constantly against the NDP constituted support and friendliness.
2. There are other "NDP friendly sites"? Could someone list them?
Rabble certainly is NDP friendly. Babble is somewhat less forgiving, and we certainly have very few stalwarts indeed to thank for that.
Rabble is NDP friendly. How could expect anything else?
Babble gets all sorts of NDP-critical contributors: right-wingers and Liberals masquerading as disgruntled NDPers (quite common at election time), right-wingers and trolls who can't tell the difference between an NDPer and anyone else on the left, left wing NDPers, left wingers who "critically support" the NDP, more left elements with a range of critical views of the NDP, and so on.
There are also a couple of NDPers who post here. lol.
Anyway, for loyal Dippers it's probably confusing at times. C'est la vie.
A rolodex to sort out the growing list of contradictions might help.
I think the NDP will take the same tack that left Lib Dems and Republicans are taking against Obama. They will demand that the Harpers identify for the public record what their goals are in Libya and what the exit strategy is. The NDP will demand accountability and transparency, and our 24 percenters with 100% of power will bend and twist in the wind trying to avoid the fact that their policy for Libya is in-synch with that of Warshington, London, Paris and the same as it is for democrats in Ryadh, Manama, Islamabad, Tel Aviv and Cairo.
And in four year's time NDP strategists will be proven correct in that Canadians will have forgotten all about Libya and moved on the more pressing issues, like the stubbornly high unemployment levels and shit show Tories bad record on the environment, pensions, and general all around incompetence. Come 2015 Harper will be about as popular as Brian Mulroney was by 1993, and about as electable as R.B. Bennett was by 1935. Canadians will wonder how in hell they were ever elected in the first place. And that's generally true of all bought and paid-for stoogeaucrats and senators alike who are invariably shoved into those jobs by big money interests. They are never really the people's choice.
Day Two and nothing critical about the NDP's support of the illegal war being waged.
Even the Ceasefire.ca, another very friendly NDP site made a minor comment about the illegal war on thier website.
men the outcome of the vote would not matter regardless of what the NDP does, i personally have a lack of interest in federal politics at the moment..I guess one of the reasons for the lack of coverage is that the decision was so expected from the NDP...Layton has never been much anti-war for the last couple of years, and its not something he really talks about on the campaign trial..so no suprises there..theres no point of complainning for this less than ideal vote from the NDP since the election result was already so distorted due to outdated electoral system, many have become so used to low expectation from federal politics..its not like there is another party choice
political apathy is one of the biggest winnners of the recent federal election, the people who have problem with the NDP not being left enough probably do not even care to write an article against the NDP when really theres nothing worthy of supporting or writing home about from the canadian parliament at the moment..
I take it that you didn't intend to leave Remind out of the discussion?
i didnt say men, i meant to say MEH!
LOL
I understand that Derrick O'Keefe and Murray Dobbin have been writing about the illegal war in Libya however they have been abnormally quiet since Tuesday's vote.
Not one peep from them, normally they are very active about pointing out the errors of the conservatives and the liberals parties policies (within a few hours) about the Libya however when the NDP shores up the support for the war, they and the rest of rabble is silent on the issue.
I have my doubts that either will talk ill towards the NDP but I hope that I am wrong.
Yes it would be an ideal situation if Libya was the only country in the world where the USA and its white, powerful European allies were interfering politically and militarily for many years. In that case, the NDP would surely be the rat under the floor boards making chaos in a democratic and peaceful world order of things. But we know that is not close to the truth.
Rich and powerful white people in this country were expecting the NDP to be Johnny opposites to their hirelings in phony majority power. They wanted the NDP to sound like the Bolsheviks and Stalinists they accused Tommy and the CCF of being in the 1940s and 50s. The propaganda machine needs to clearly identify us as the enemies of everything good and wonderful here in the land of freedom and democracy. And we know that would be a terrible lie as well. The establishment media works on the basis of lies and propaganda, and I've seen it already in the newspaper with Monte Solberg referring to the NDP as axe murders with a consience on economic issues. The propaganda machine is waiting to pounce on the NDP at every turn. We can't let them. We owe it to too many people to run these stooges out of town on a rail by high noon next snap election call for short term political gain sometime in October 2015. Mark your calendars, buckle-up, and then throw that date in the garbage, because Steve our big stooge with the vacant and lifeless eyes will be driving the bus for for the next four.
the establishment media does indeed work on the basis of lies and propaganda - so do political parties. Including the no difference party
Backing the extension doesn't protect the NDP from anything, Fidel. The people who would have bashed the party for that won't stop bashing it until they've made it agree to Blairize itself totally on foreign policy...which I assume even YOU would object to, since a government can't be hawkish on foreign policy anymore and still have the resources to make any meaningful social change at home.
I think we should be clear about a few things.
They were Liberal and Tory governments that put Canadian troops in Afghanistan.
They were Liberals in government with Tories backing them up all the way on handing over Arar and Khadr to their torturers.
And it was this Tory governnment that sent war planes to Libya without any help whatsoever from the NDP - they didn't actually need NDP support. The NDP knows full well that they pulled no trigger on Libya.
Our corrupt stooges needed no prompting from the NDP only their bosses in Warshington.
When Uncle Sam orders our corrupt stooges to jump, their only response is to blurt out,
HOW HIGH SHALL WE JUMP THIS TIME, UNCLE SAM, AYE-AYE ON THE DOUBLE!
Their trained seals in Ottawa are Johnny on the spot when it comes to French kissing Uncle Sam's derriere. Uncle Sam's obedient lap dogs in Ottawa are always glad to do it and never balk or complain. They do what comes natural for them as always on-time every time, so let's not kid ourselves here that the NDP gave them any encouragement or the like. Canadians are embarrassed to hell about it long time, Ken. There is really no need to rub it in or drag the NDP into this disgusting, long time federal toadying to US power. Nobody kisses American ass better and for as long as the decades-long parade of vicious toadies and obedient lap poodles in Canada's two old line parties. Nobody!
"...so let's not kid ourselves here that the NDP gave them any encouragement or the like."
294-1
And how did the Liberals vote? We could be rich betting on how that party votes in favour of toadying to US Military and big oil agendas.
At least with the NDP there's the odd surprise once in a while, like this. lol!
Apparently the NDP and Socialist International aren't supporting Qadaffi.
Why not?
They [the Li(e)berals] are not our [the NDP's] teachers, right?
I have a huge disdain for how posters like Fidel give a knee-jerk defense/cover/support for the spinelessness of the NDP. I also do not assume, as others have, that because Murray Dobbin has not put up an immediate reaction to the NDP cave, that somehow he is a part of any deflection (rare for me to agree with Catchfire).
That being said, however, there is not much of a real articulate force against what is going on in Libya from a Canadian perspective save for the really marginal sites such as New Socialist. The Canadian Peace movement has been weak on analysis forever as I can remember. Too much neo-paganism, too much Johh Lennon lyrics/memorialization, too little infrastructure for real dissent. There as been way too much confusion about supposed righteous interventionism (ie witness the various Greens globally re: Kosovo during the early 90's). This goes to a real need for a renewal of intelligence, of intellectual self-defense (in contrast to empty pseudo-intellectualism a la Zizek). That is what is needed but we first have to agree to that; right here, right now that does not look good.
What ARE you on about?