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 February 25
Indian soldiers, Kashmir, 2012. Image credit: flowcomm/Flickr
Return of 4G internet is not the real story in occupied Kashmir
Karen Rodman | While on its surface, the restoration of 4G internet in Kashmir seems like positive news, it raises some questions, including: why now, and why would mainstream media pick up this story?
Blog - Alberta Diary February 25
A fine pair of cowboy boots like these, hand-made in Alberta, can be hell to break in, but it's worth the effort, especially if you're a finance minister. Image credit: David J. Climenhaga
Alberta finance minister's break with tradition followed by run of bad fortune for UCP. Coincidence?
David J. Climenhaga | The more likely explanation is hubris, incompetence, and an ideology that clearly doesn't work. Still, it wouldn't be the worst thing if finance ministers got the idea they'd better buy new shoes.
Blog - Alberta Diary February 24
Alberta Finance Minister Travis Toews. Image credit: Alberta Newsroom/Flickr
Don't expect UCP to follow Business Council's progressive advice in Alberta's budget
David J. Climenhaga | The big business guys never quite come out and advise Jason Kenney and the UCP to run Alberta like Rachel Notley's NDP did. But that's what they're doing.
Blog - David Suzuki February 24
Industrial factory in grassy field. Image credit: Anton Eprev/Unsplash
Faulty economic thinking makes destroying nature profitable
David Suzuki | Destroying nature is more profitable than protecting it, and tools such as gross domestic product are not fit for assessing real economic health. GDP is "based on a faulty application of economics."
Blog - The Views Expressed February 23
Man holds sign reading "United Against Islamophobia." Image credit: Felton Davis/Wikimedia Commons
Pushing for political leadership on Islamophobia from Trudeau to Legault
Ehab Lotayef | It is only when the people lead that the politicians will follow. Now we need to keep pushing Canada's politicians to continue fighting against Islamophobia.
Blog - Cathy Crowe's blog February 23
A tiny wooden shelter with a window and a lock on the door. Image: courtesy of Khaleel Seivwright from his website
Toronto takes carpenter behind tiny shelters for homeless people to court
Cathy Crowe | In a modern David and Goliath epic, the city of Toronto is threatening carpenter Khaleel Seivwright with legal action over his structures for homeless people.
Blog - Alberta Diary February 23
Calgary street preacher Artur Pawlowski addresses supporters at Saturday's tiki-torch march in Edmonton. Image: Artur Pawlowski/Facebook
Extremist rally at Alberta legislature met with silence from UCP
David J. Climenhaga | Jason Kenney's commentary about Saturday's tiki-torch protest in Edmonton wasn't quite a full-throated Trumpian defence of "very fine people," but surely boils down to the same thing.
Blog - The Activist Toolkit Blog February 22
Man beside window. Image credit: Fernando @cferdo/Unsplash
Community organizer takes aim at how Ottawa police address mental-health crises
Maya Bhullar | Community organizer Robin Browne speaks about his work to change how Ottawa police address mental-health crises and reflects on his decades of activism to confront systemic anti-Black racism.
Blog - The Views Expressed February 22
Inauguration of new president of Haiti in 2017. Image credit: United Nations Photo/Flickr
Canada's contribution to political corruption in Haiti
Yves Engler | As Haiti's neo-Duvalierist regime becomes ever more dictatorial it's worth revisiting Canada's history in facilitating fraud and money laundering in the hemisphere's most impoverished nation.
Blog - The Views Expressed February 22
Image credit: Quibton Gordon
Black History Month a time to celebrate and reflect on racial justice
Sharmarke Dubow | Every February, people across the country celebrate the contributions of Black Canadians, both past and present. Black Canada is diverse and we all have a tale to tell.
Blog - Alberta Diary February 22
Brian Brennan, at left, on the picket line at the Calgary Herald. Renowned Canadian author Margaret Atwood can be seen in the centre of the photo. To her right in hat is mystery thriller author Grant McKenzie. Image: Calgary Herald Strike Archive
Brian Brennan, 77, elegant wordsmith, musician, courageous trade unionist
David J. Climenhaga | For many years, Brian Brennan specialized in writing obituaries, each a polished gem of a few hundred words, with more poetry in them than the readers of a daily newspaper could expect.
Blog - A change is gonna come February 22
Nestlé water bottle. Image credit: Nestlé/Flickr
Ontario needs to ensure water remains in the public common
Doreen Nicoll | Ontario's Wellington County will be hard hit by Nestlé's plans to sell its North American bulk bottled-water business to a private equity firm.
Blog - Alberta Diary February 20
Pastor James Coates preaching to his congregation recently. Image: Screenshot of GraceLife Church video
Enforcement of Alberta's pandemic restrictions no threat to defiant pastor
David J. Climenhaga | The religious right in Canada and the U.S. is painting Pastor James Coates as a Christian martyr. Verily, I say unto you, his willingness to go to jail has nothing to do with religious freedom.
Blog - The Views Expressed February 18
Sainte-Catherine Street, downtown Montreal,1968. Image credit: Archives de la Ville de Montréal/Flickr
Class of '64 shares memories of well-mannered and polite rebellion
Karl Nerenberg | Our class at Outremont High came of age in the turbulent '60s. For the most part, however, the political and cultural upheaval we associate with that decade had not yet happened.
Blog - Alberta Diary February 18
Inquiry Commissioner Steve Allan. Image credit: Government of Alberta
Judge hopes to rule on Ecojustice challenge to Alberta inquiry by May 31
David J. Climenhaga | Whether or not Ecojustice is winning in court is impossible to say. But the group is certainly well ahead in the Canadian court of public opinion.
Blog - The Views Expressed February 17
Rally on Parliament Hill calling for justice for Hassan Diab. Image credit: justiceforhassandiab.org
No justice for Hassan Diab
Frances Deverell | For Canadian professor Hassan Diab and his family, the case against him has been a battle against injustice that has gone on since 2008, almost 13 years.
Blog - The Views Expressed February 17
Jewish children, fleeing postwar antisemitic violence in Poland: Prague, Czechoslovakia, July 15, 1946. Image credit: American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee/The Holocaust Encyclopedia
Class of '64 meets and memories of mass murder emerge unexpectedly
Karl Nerenberg | We were the Outremont High School class of 1964. A Zoom reunion of the graduating class became, in a way, our own Truth and Reconciliation Commission.
Blog - Alberta Diary February 17
An Alberta Health Services ambulance. Image credit: Mitchell Smith/Flickr
Is Alberta's EMS dispatch consolidation plan a prelude to ambulance privatization?
David J. Climenhaga | The only way the UCP's stubborn persistence with this policy really makes sense is if it sets the stage for something else, to wit, privatization of the provincial ambulance service.
Blog - David Suzuki February 17
Factory building with smoke emissions in New Brunswick. Image credit: ETA+/Unsplash
Clearing the air on fossil fuel pollution
David Suzuki | Rapidly reducing greenhouse gas emissions will quickly reduce pollution. That's important, because particulates kill a lot of people and make many more ill -- even more than previously thought.
Blog - rabble.ca's staff blog February 16
We need to support rabble.ca. Here's why.
Bill Blaikie | rabble is a place where the left can see itself reflected, is taken seriously, and can engage in thoughtful and insightful debate.
Blog - Indigenous Nationhood February 16
Parliament Hill, Ottawa. Image credit: Nancy Girard Bégin/Flickr
Canada continues shirking its human rights obligations to First Nations children
Pam Palmater | Bill C-92 was heralded as the solution to the "humanitarian crisis" of First Nations children in foster care. Instead it could make things worse.
Blog - Alberta Diary February 16
An soldier observes a CH-47 Chinook helicopter at an undisclosed location in Afghanistan, Feb. 9, 2018. Image credit: The U.S. Army/Flickr
With Taliban about to regain control in Afghanistan, we should ask: was it worth it?
David J. Climenhaga | Kandahar fell to U.S. special forces and their Afghan allies on Dec. 7, 2001. The first Canadian soldiers got involved the same month. Canadians would fight and die there until March 2014.
Blog - The Views Expressed February 15
Norwegian Petroleum Museum. Image credit: Delphinidaesy/Flickr
Norway leads on climate action while Canada lags behind
Bruce Campbell | Both Canada and Norway face epic challenges in weaning themselves from petroleum dependence. But Canada is a long way from winding down the oil and gas industry while Norway is a climate leader.
Blog - Alberta Diary February 14
You just can’t make this stuff up. Image: United Conservative Party/Twitter
The Annals of Alberta poetry: United Conservative Party sends out a Kenney Valentine
David J. Climenhaga | Roses are red, violets are blue, stay for the ratio, what else can you do?
Blog - The Views Expressed February 12
Prime Minister Trudeau attends question period, September 2020. Image credit: Adam Scotti/PMO
Trudeau government faces series of setbacks to corporate, imperial policies
Yves Engler | The Canadian government is a big supporter of corporate power and imperialism in global affairs. The good news is that the pushers of an unjust world order do not always get their way.
Blog - Alberta Diary February 12
Alberta Health Services ambulance. Image credit: Mitchell Smith/Flickr
Fort McMurray mayor dares Kenney to fire him in fight over deteriorating ambulance service
David J. Climenhaga | There are circumstances when acts of defiance are absolutely necessary, said Wood Buffalo Mayor Don Scott in Fort McMurray. "I challenge the provincial government to remove me."
Blog - rabble.ca's staff blog February 11
rabble will not let up on speaking truth to power
Pam Palmater | Keep the momentum of our movement strong and give what you can today.
Blog - The Views Expressed February 11
Israel Defense Forces soldiers. Image credit: Israel Defense Forces/Flickr
Civil society groups demand action on illegal Israeli military recruiting in Canada
Karen Rodman | Over 50 organizations in Canada and around the world have joined the call to stop illegal Israeli military recruitment in Canada.
Blog - Alberta Diary February 11
Alberta Premier Jason Kenney in the cake section during yesterday's news conference. Image credit: Video screenshot/Government of Alberta
Kenney chooses cake department to announce pandemic 'bonus' for front-line workers
David J. Climenhaga | It's pretty clear that the Alberta premier's decision to finally hand out the predominantly federal cash was a desperate attempt to change the channel on his recent string of political disasters.
Blog - rabble.ca's staff blog February 10
Build Canada forward
Kim Elliott | Tell us what's most important to you in a pandemic recovery that builds Canada forward -- not back.

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