Happy Friday!
There were lots and lots of amazing blogs this week (this comes as no surprise) and amongst them some new faces: welcome Independent Jewish Voices to the rabble.ca blog team!
Now grab some form of beverage (cup of tea, coffee, water) because our blogs this week are varied and vivid: the Conservatives problem with and dismissing of low-income groups and people of colour, Montreal police wreaking havoc on peaceful student protests, programs victim-blaming sex workers and backbenchers trying to redefine life and women’s reproductive rights. There are some positives in there though — communities rallying around sex workers’ rights and remembering great Canadian activists, but somehow those moments are few and far between these days. Oh, Canada indeed.
Rogue reporter Karl Nerenberg keeps rabble.ca readers in the loop with our Conservative government’s questionable moves in Hill Dispatches: Kenney’s concern about racism does not extend to everyone, Hill Dispatches: A budget that favours the environment, the poor and the struggling middle class and Hill Dispatches: ‘I accomplished what I wanted to’, says Turmel.
Apparently detaching your retina at an attempted peaceful protest after the Montreal police throw flash grenades isn’t enough for them to then call you an ambulance as detailed by Krystalline Kraus in Activist Communique: Quebec activist loses eye after clash with police.
Gerry Caplan recounts the conversations between Stephen Harper, Jean Charest and Quebec representatives about re-opening asbestos mines in Quebec, calling out for a final push against re-opening in Keeping Canada’s asbestos mines closed.
Independent Jewish Voices expose that NDP leadership candidate Thomas Mulcair’s stance on the ongoing Israeli/Palestine crisis may side closer to the right in Support from Israel lobby for Mulcair NDP leadership bid raises serious concerns.
Yes! Stop violence against sex workers! John Bonnar gives the low down on an awesome ‘peer support workers’ program in Street-level sex trade workers kept safer through peer-support program.
Judy Rebick writes a moving post about one of Canada’s greatest activists Madeleine Parent in Remembering activist Madeleine Parent.
Farzana Doctor will be joining the Babble Book Club for a discussion of her novel Six Metres of Pavement on Monday April 2! Exciting!
Pulp friction: Edmonton Journal quits toothless Alberta Press Council, Calgary Herald to follow by David J. Climenhaga details why the Edmonton Journal sees the APC as “no longer having any value.”
Remember when society used to tackle problems by questioning rape culture and getting at the root of a problem instead of victim blaming — oh wait. Meghan Murphy discusses violence against sex workers in Safe strolls: A new, progressive way to blame the victim?
David Suzuki said it: Bicycling helps make cities cool. Sure, he was referring to climate change and not social standing, but does it matter? Grab that bike!
Canada’s war on women’s reproductive rights rages on as backbencher Stephen Woodworth reopens the abortion debate under the assumption of “when life begins” in Parliament to debate abortion in April by Mercedes Allen. *Head slams into desk*
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