Blogs

rabble blogs are the personal pages of some of Canada's most insightful progressive activists and commentators. All opinions belong to the writer; however, writers are expected to adhere to our guidelines. We welcome new bloggers -- contact us for details.
Blog - The Views Expressed July 3
Image: Ye Jinghan/Unsplash
The 'benevolent' policing of social work and mental health
Khadijah Kanji | Police officers carry the name, but don't monopolize the practice. Policing is structurally integral to all of our institutions, and is carried out both "benevolently" and violently.
Blog - Taking Sides July 3
The fallen Christopher Columbus statue outside the Minnesota State Capitol after a group led by American Indian Movement members tore it down in St. Paul, Minnesota, on June 10, 2020. Image: Tony Webster/Wikimedia Commons
Toppling statues provides opportunities for collective reflection
Lorenzo Vargas | In Canada, there are renewed calls to rename monuments, buildings and streets across the country that honour colonial figures, not just as a symbolic act.
Blog - rabble.ca's staff blog July 3
There's no one we'd rather be accountable to than you
Kim Elliott | We understand why the world needs independent, progressive media and analysis in the wake of a crisis.
Blog - The Views Expressed July 2
Image: Lewis Parsons/Unsplash
Canada's economic and racial inequities are more stark than ever
Robert Sweeny | The failure of successive governments to act on evidence has helped create the conditions for the spectacularly unequal Canada we live in today.
Blog - Alberta Diary July 2
Image: Jason Kenney/Twitter
Canada Day mystery: Why was Jason Kenney's holiday message removed then replaced with alternative version?
David J. Climenhaga | Four hours and two minutes after Kenney's Canada Day wishes were published yesterday, they mysteriously disappeared and were replaced by a darker message.
Blog - The Views Expressed June 30
Noam Chomsky in 2015. Image: Cancillería del Ecuador/Flickr
Noam Chomsky discusses prospects for post-COVID-19 society
Robert Hackett | Powerful elites are running scared, says Chomsky. "The peasants are coming with the pitchforks."
Blog - David Suzuki June 30
Image: NASA/Unsplash
Reflections from an elder in isolation
David Suzuki | If we could take a different path, away from the impossible dream that unbridled consumption and endless growth are necessary for progress, we might find our way to a different future.
Blog - The Views Expressed June 30
The UN Security Council chamber. Image: Russ Allison Loar/Flickr
Full frontal hypocrisy: Canada's UN failure
Mark Nykanen, Howard Breen | Recriminations have followed Canada's failure to secure one of two highly-coveted seats on the UN Security Council, after the Trudeau government spent $2.3 million on the effort.
Blog - The Views Expressed June 30
Police officer at a Toronto Black Lives Matter demonstration in June, 2020. Image: Mitchel Raphael
Changing public institutions also requires changing the people who build and maintain them
Francis Carbonu | As law enforcement and public institutions face scrutiny following incidents of police violence, we might gain insight into the true omnipresence of injustice by hearing stories from our peers.
Blog - Alberta Diary June 30
Alberta Finance Minister Travis Toews at a press conference on June 29, 2020. Image: Government of Alberta video screenshot/YouTube
The Alberta government's post-COVID recovery plan: we're all Keynesians, up to a point
David J. Climenhaga | The United Conservative Party's re-election bid will likely rely on claiming Alberta's economy was doing just fine before COVID-19 hit.
Blog - A change is gonna come June 30
At the Kwekwexnewtxw Watch House and the Kinder Morgan Tank Farm in Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada. August 25, 2018. Image: Sally T. Buck/Flickr
July 1 is a time to reflect on Canada's colonial and genocidal legacy
Doreen Nicoll | This July 1, take time to reflect on how Canada can create an inclusive, caring country that incorporates all voices into its post-COVID-19 recovery.
Blog - The Activist Toolkit Blog June 30
Police in Toronto in 2009. Image: Wikimedia Commons
The sad state of policing in Canada
Maya Bhullar | A set of tools to move towards real changes in policing.
Blog - The Views Expressed June 29
Ejaz Choudry. (Image: Submitted)
Health professionals, not police, should be responsible for conducting wellness checks
Paul Salvatori | A person in mental distress needs to know they will be safe. Changing the way public bodies respond to those in distress could save lives.
Blog - Brent Patterson June 29
F/A-18Fs being refueled over Afghanistan in 2010. Image: U.S. Air Force/Flickr
Is spending $19 billion on fighter jets a good way to generate jobs in a pandemic-ravaged economy?
Brent Patterson | Boeing makes the case that its Super Hornet fighter jet is good for jobs, but studies show peaceful production is a better way to address unemployment.
Blog - Alberta Diary June 29
The government of Alberta offices in Edmonton, photographed before social distancing rules came into effect. Image: David J. Climenhaga
Public service managers' return-to-workplace guide outlines plan to return public employees to government offices
David J. Climenhaga | Since the plan involves employees being required to come into the office but to act as if they were still working at home, it's not at all clear what the point is.
Blog - Alberta Diary June 29
Premier Jason Kenney, Minister of Energy Sonya Savage and Minister of Justice and Solicitor General Doug Schweitzer announce the launch of a public inquiry into foreign-funded "anti-Alberta energy" campaigns in April, 2019. Image: Alberta Newsroom/Flickr
Ecojustice will press ahead with legal action against Alberta government's secretive inquiry
David J. Climenhaga | Putting another $1 million and four more months into the Alberta government's effort may not be the best use of public money if the wheels are falling of the "anti-Alberta energy" inquiry.
Blog - Cathy Crowe's blog June 29
A teacher stands in front of a bulldozer at an encampment eviction under the Gardiner Expressway. Image: submitted by Cathy Crowe
Homeless encampments are here to stay
Cathy Crowe | Without a real national housing program, the economic fallout of COVID-19 will likely lead to growing homeless encampments.
Blog - Taking Sides June 29
Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte giving a speech in 2016 (Image: Wikimedia Commons)
Protecting journalists is a balancing act between dictums and dictators
Philip Lee | The Canadian Committee for World Press Freedom has urged Ottawa to "use its leadership role" to champion the need for international sanctions to protect media rights in the Philippines.
Blog - On The Other Hand June 29
U.S. President Donald Trump boards Marine One headed for a campaign rally in Tulsa. Image: Wikimedia Commons
U.S. opinion polls dump President Donald Trump
Penney Kome | The president's shoddy handling of the COVID-19 pandemic and his response to the police murder of George Floyd have all contributed to a sharp decline in opinion polls.
Blog - Alberta Diary June 28
Jason Kenney's speechwriter, Paul Bunner. Image: David J. Climenhaga
Jason Kenney's highly controversial speechwriter is also listed as a constituency association CEO for the federal Conservatives
David J. Climenhaga | Will the federal Conservatives have a different reaction to Paul Bunner's role in their party than Premier Jason Kenney has about his continued job in the premier's office?
Blog - Brent Patterson June 26
Image: aezoss/Flickr
Did the $10 billion Canada spent on CF-18s help to bring peace?
Brent Patterson | With the Canadian government planning to spend billions more on fighter jets and missiles, this is a critical moment to discuss alternatives to war and to mobilize around the need for peacebuilding.
Blog - rabble.ca's staff blog June 26
Image: rabble.ca
This is the time to keep the momentum going
Kim Elliott | rabble.ca tells the stories of today and tomorrow -- your stories -- to mobilize a grassroots response, and alternatives to the crisis and the fallout of austerity. But we can't do it without you.
Blog - Pulpit and Politics June 26
Image: Makenna Entrikin/Unsplash
COVID-19 shines harsh light on injustices faced by key workers and the elderly
Dennis Gruending | The elderly, long-term care workers, grocery store clerks and migrant farm workers in Canada are among those who have experienced the harshest injustices during the pandemic.
Blog - Alberta Diary June 26
Energy Minister Sonya Savage at a press conference in April, 2020. (Image: Alberta Newsroom/Flickr)
Alberta inquiry hasn't found any foreign-funded anti-energy campaigns yet, but promises to keep searching
David J. Climenhaga | Energy Minister Sonya Savage says the inquiry can have another $1 million and four extra months to look into Alberta's unsolved foreign-funded environmental campaigns mystery.
Blog - Alberta Diary June 25
Margaret Thatcher in York, England, in 1987. Image: christopher hogg/Flickr
'A device for dictators and demagogues': Jason Kenney should heed Margaret Thatcher's observation about referenda
David J. Climenhaga | Despite their superficial appearance of direct democracy, referenda have an anti-democratic effect.
Blog - Alberta Diary June 24
Image: Zbynek Burival/Unsplash
New report suggests Alberta is overspending public dollars on fossil fuel research and technology development
David J. Climenhaga | The study suggests the province's universities and the government agencies that fund them are helping to prolong the worst aspects of the fossil fuel era.
Blog - David Suzuki June 23
Transmission electron micrograph of SARS-CoV-2 virus particles. Image: NIAID/Flickr
Multiple crises signal the need to change course
David Suzuki | This pandemic could be a trial run for how we respond to the almost-inevitable next pandemic. Or it could be the wake-up call that finally compels us to resolve this and other related emergencies.
Blog - Alberta Diary June 23
AUPE president Guy Smith addresses media at the Edmonton Court House this morning as the union's lawyer, Patrick Nugent, looks on. Image: AUPE
Alberta union goes to court to challenge UCP law that criminalizes public protest
David J. Climenhaga | AUPE president Guy Smith vowed to fight the UCP's Bill 1 all the way to the Supreme Court if necessary, and to "defend any and all AUPE members or staff who are caught in the bill's cross-hairs."
Blog - Brent Patterson June 23
Image: Still taken from the film "Kanehsatake: 270 Years of Resistance"/NFB
Racialized militarism, peacebuilding and opening a conversation about defunding the military
Brent Patterson | As the Trudeau government prepares to spend billions on the Canadian military, it's urgent and necessary to discuss alternatives.
Blog - Alberta Diary June 23
Image: Conservative Party/Twitter
The federal Conservative leadership race takes a sinister and juvenile turn
David J. Climenhaga | Probably the last thing the Conservative Party of Canada needs right now is a battle over allegations of dirty tricks between the campaigns of its two leading candidates.

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