beneficial bug box Corporate media v2_0

The world needs to hear a lot less from the mainstream media and a lot more from rabble.ca
~ Linda McQuaig

It seems that almost everywhere you turn today another government, another media organization, another pundit is worshipping at the altar of “austerity.”

Not at rabble.ca. We’re an alternative voice. They say austerity, we say abundance. We need an abundance of democracy, an abundance of voices calling for change. We need alternative media to trumpet alternatives. We’re asking you to join us in rejecting the austerity agenda by becoming a member of rabble.ca today.

In the last federal election, at least 28 newspapers and magazines in Canada endorsed Stephen Harper. In other words almost 80 per cent of mainstream publications that did an endorsement backed Harper. So with only 39 per cent of the vote, Harper has a majority in Parliament and a super-majority in the media.

Who, then, will speak and report for the real majority in Canada? At rabble.ca, we want to help make up this gap and provide media for the majority, not just for the 1 per cent elites who support Harper’s agenda. And we need your help to keep getting stronger.

We were the first media site in Canada to have a special “Occupy” section, the only with live public chats with NDP leadership candidates, and we now have Hill Dispatches — Karl Nerenberg’s exclusive reporting from Parliament Hill in Ottawa. On top of that, rabble has: 

–  Added new bloggers, including David Suzuki, G20 prisoner Mandy Hiscocks, the Sierra Club of Canada, Independent Jewish Voices, Mining Watch, and more! 

–  Added new columnists such as Thomas Ponniah writing on social movements and Pro Bono, a column on legal issues and activism. 

–  Added new podcasts including rabble’s own Activist Toolkit podcast, Migrant Matters, People’s Health, Movie Reviews with Cathi Bond and more. 

–  Created special series such as Aylwin Lo’s seven-part series Inside the Working Conditions of Migrant Workers, and April Dutheil’s Made in Haida Gwaii.

Your monthly donation of $5, $8, $15, $25 or $50 is crucial to us. Plus, with your membership donation of at least $60/year, you can receive a free subscription to one Canada’s leading independent print magazines. See the great magazine options here. If you give at least $8/month we will also send you our new book Best of rabble.ca 2011. Already a member? If you can give more, we hope you will consider upping your donation to $15, $25 or $50 per month. But hurry! This special magazine giveaway is only valid during our donation drive, which ends midnight, Friday July 6.

The hard fact is that rabble.ca has only a few hundred members donating at least $5 a month. This means our membership level is under 0.03 per cent of the 150,000 people who use rabble every month. Monthly donations provide rabble.ca with dependable income and help with financial planning, let alone keeping the lights on. 

Will you help us build and strengthen our work by becoming a member of rabble.ca? Or, if you are already a member, will you take this opportunity to increase your membership level? 

We know you believe in alternative media and we thank you for visiting rabble for your “news for the rest of us.”  We need your help, please join today, and be part of taking back the media for the real majority in Canada.