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.

This fall, Michael Parenti's timing as a writer could not have been better. The independent scholar and lecturer has produced 22 books on political and cultural subjects. But his latest, The Face of Imperialism, jives completely with the current Occupy movement in cities around the world. 

Parenti spoke to rabble.ca this week while on a three-city tour of Ontario university campuses. Parenti's short Canadian tour took him to Toronto (Tuesday), Guelph (Wednesday) and Hamilton (Thursday).

When recently in Beirut and Cairo for Arab preparatory meetings for Rio+20, Diana Bronson had a chance to sit down with Adnan Melky, a long-time civil society activist from Lebanon, who has worked on environmental issues and democratic reform in Lebanon, and throughout the Arab region. Excerpts from their conversation are reproduced here.

Diana Bronson: What is your view of how the Arab Spring started and how do you understand it today?