Happy Friday the 13th! Those who are superstitious may fear bad luck today, and reviewing this week’s news stories probably won’t improve your outlook. This week, Canada Post announced huge cuts, including the end of urban mail delivery, and world leaders gathered in South Africa to honour the life of Nelson Mandela while offering each other self-congratulatory back-pats for their trailblazing role(s) in ending apartheid. Meanwhile, Human Rights Day occurred on December 10 and the rampantly racist lead-up to the holidays continues apace. Rabble bloggers wrote about these issues and more.
A memorial service for Nelson Mandela occurred in the Johannesburg suburb of Soweto on Tuesday. As Harper, Mulroney, Chretien and others gloat over Canada’s ostensibly singular role in ending apartheid, Kathleen Copps at The Views Expressed reminds us that “at one time Harper, during his time with the right wing “Northern Foundation,” actively opposed Mandela’s release from prison.” Meanwhile, Jesse McLaren argues that remembering his anti-colonialist struggles is the best tribute to Mandela. Before we in Canada congratulate ourselves for being a bastion of ANC support during the twilight years of apartheid, we would do well to remember that the model for the system was Canada’s residential schools.
Tuesday, December 10 was Human Rights Day. On the Code Pink Canadian Delegations to Gaza blog, David Heap writes about freedom of movement for Palestinians: “what is really at stake here,” Heap writes, “is one of the basic human rights that the occupation deprives Palestinians of on a regular basis: the right to travel about their land, to leave and return to their country.”
On Wednesday, it was announced that Canada Post will phase out urban mail delivery across the country within five years — a move that will amount to the elimination of 6000-8000 jobs. David Bush wrote about this news on his blog, recalling the Conservatives’ insistence on the service’s importance as justification for ending the Canada Post lockout in 2011. Ironically, urban mail delivery is now considered nonessential, completing a series of mental gymnastics that will surely “make for many pretzel-brained Tories and big business backers.”
The rapid approach of the holidays at this time of year usually sparks much crankiness from the right about the so-called “war on Christmas,” a battle waged by soulless politically correct fun-destroyers who want to ruin the birth of Jesus for the children. Michael Laxer deconstructs this “war on Christmas” and shows it for what it really is: “an attempt to help to create a backlash against immigration, diversity, inclusion and multiculturalism.”
Last but not least, with office parties in full swing right now, you may have considered the pros and cons of coming out at work. On Diary of a Lipstick Terrorist, Laura Brightwell talks about how expectations about sexual orientations manifest themselves in the workplace and her own experience of un-coming out at the office.
Image: Flickr/ lazylikewally
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