Matthew Behrens

Matthew Behrens is a freelance writer and social justice advocate who coordinates the Homes not Bombs non-violent direct action network. His column "Taking Liberties" examines connections between national security and civil liberties. Behrens has worked closely with the targets of Canadian and U.S. "national security" profiling for many years.

Columnists

Dec 12, 2019

A forgotten Canadian returns home from the war on terror

Matthew Behrens

Canadian Khalid Awan paid one of the heaviest imaginable prices for the system of racial profiling, mass arrests and indefinite detentions that targeted racialized communities after 9/11.

Columnists

Nov 21, 2019

An act of institutional femicide: remembering the life of Michele M

Matthew Behrens

The last three weeks of 58-year-old single mother and abuse survivor Michele M's life were spent on the run from a multi-generational history of male violence against women and children.

Columnists

Oct 17, 2019

The biggest winner in Canada's election is the military

Matthew Behrens

No matter who takes the reins of Parliament next week, perhaps the biggest winner in Canada's 2019 federal election will be a conglomerate of military industries and the war department.

Columnists

Sep 25, 2019

Genocide, fairytales, and the expendables of election 2019

Matthew Behrens

Most election climate solutions are largely about avoiding system change and instead "adapting" to climate catastrophe, a climate apartheid strategy that benefits those with the necessary resources.

Columnists

Jul 24, 2019

Mercury poisoning, Muskrat Falls and Canada's toxic divide

Matthew Behrens

The crisis of Canada's toxic divide has come into sharp focus in Labrador, where the plans are to push the Muskrat Falls megadam to full operations by the fall.

Columnists

May 22, 2019

Beware pro-choice memes normalizing Islamophobia

Matthew Behrens

When Alabama legislators passed the most restrictive abortion law in the U.S. last week, many seemingly progressive people immediately reacted by blaming Muslims.

Columnists

May 1, 2019

Trudeau feeds anti-refugee scapegoating for election

Matthew Behrens

Rather than making the kinds of improvements that would ease the lives of those who arrive in Canada, the Trudeau regime has decided to tack right and attack refugees going into election 2019.

Columnists

Mar 19, 2019

Christchurch happens every day in the war of terror

Matthew Behrens

What happened at Christchurch -- mass murder produced as the logical result of a long-running political epoch defined by the dehumanization and demonization of Muslims -- happens every day.

Columnists

Feb 22, 2019

It's taboo to talk about Canada's real corporate scandal

Matthew Behrens

While the SNC-Lavalin affair has made headlines, there's another corporate scandal that makes the financial figures in that case seem like pocket change. But no major political party will touch it.

Columnists

Jan 30, 2019

Canada ignores national security threat posed by violence against women

Matthew Behrens

According to a new report, male violence against women has claimed the lives of at least 10,495 women and girls in Canada since 1961, an average of 184 femicides per year.

Matthew Behrens

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