Mostly Water's "Canadian" news feed

Blockade by Six Nations in Toronto of the CP Olympic "Spirit Train"

macdonald — Sun, 12 Oct 2008 17:00:25 -0700

Rail Blockade Disrupts CP Rail’s Olympic Spirit Train

“Six Nations and solidarity activists resist Olympic theft of Indigenous land, ecological destruction, and attacks on the poor”.

Stephen Harper to Canadian Workers: "Let Them Eat Economic Fundamentals!"

blackandred — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 12:07:07 -0700

By Nikolas Barry-Shaw - Znet

With the exhaustion of the post-war boom...class warfare was reborn under the moniker of neoliberalism. Employers' hardened stance and an open assault on trade union freedoms - pursued by [Conservative] and Liberal governments alike - would usher in a "new norm" of lowered expectations and "stagnant or declining real wages, despite unprecedented improvements in education and skills," for Canadian workers. The "fear of falling" for workers was also enhanced, with the poor facing "a much nastier reality now than twenty years ago, since cuts to social assistance have substantially increased the poverty gap - even in Canada's richest provinces."

CSIS/RCMP "Probe" Possible 2010 Olympic Threats

blackandred — Sat, 11 Oct 2008 23:51:36 -0700

Wednesday, October 08, 2008 - The Province

VANCOUVER- Security forces are predicting protests will escalate as the 2010 Olympics approach and have mounted a number of 'intelligence probes' to counteract threats...The 'threat assessments' show police have identified several threats to Olympic security, including anti-globalization, anti-corporate and First Nations activists...

1400 Buffalo for a Few Gallons of Whiskey

kirstena — Sat, 11 Oct 2008 19:35:17 -0700

“…A party of five or six hundred Sioux Indians on horseback, forded the river about mid-day, and spending a few hours amongst them, recrossed the river at sun-down and came into the Fort with fourteen hundred buffalo tongues, which were thrown down in a mass, and for which they required but a few gallons of whiskey, which was soon demolished, indulging them in a little, and harmless carouse,” writes George Catlin in 1841. He goes on to write that such behaviors serve “many appetites that can only be lawfully indulged, by proving God’s laws defective.” Reading the writings of explorers from the 1800’s in the western U.S territories, I hear people saying exactly what animal rights activists and environmentalists are saying today.

Ending Industrial Culture, Building Cultures of Resistance

Sat, 11 Oct 2008 19:28:43 -0700

On October 1 Lierre Keith and Aric McBay spoke with Healing the Earth Radio in Guelph, Ontario. Lierre and Aric are both authors, small farmers, and activists, and over the last couple years have been organizing weekend-long conferences entitled Deep Green Resistance. In our interview, they speak of a systemic analysis of what we're facing, including the environmental and social costs of industrial culture, tying together the problems of climate change, peak oil, the power of the right-wing/fascist elements, economic collapse, and our responses to this.

Bulking Up Pentagon North

blackandred — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 16:40:12 -0700

by Linda McQuaig - Toronto Star

The truth is that Stephen Harper has already laid out an agenda that would fundamentally change [Canada] – in ways most Canadians would oppose...While this agenda is not "secret," my guess is few Canadians know about it. That's because Harper...unveiled it when Canadians weren't paying attention...Sometime in the dark of night last June 20, the Harper government posted a plan on the Department of National Defence's website...to spend an eye-popping $490 billion over the next 20 years on the military.

How Harper Government Pushed Financial Deregulation Here & Abroad

blackandred — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 18:05:05 -0700

By Ellen Gould - The Tyee

The...Harper government is responsible for pushing the envelope on deregulation both domestically and internationally despite cautionary events in the U.S. clearly indicating what could go wrong...On the international stage, Canada is a major proponent of financial liberalization...At the WTO, Canada heads a group of delegations pressing developing countries to open their economies to the supposedly superior services of foreign financial institutions.

Canadian Election Taboos - and Possibilities

blackandred — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 17:06:37 -0700

By Justin Podur - October 07, 2008

[What are some] [o]ther non-debated examples that politicians stay away from? The continuing occupation of recently hurricane-devastated Haiti, Canadian support for all of Israel's moves against Palestinians, the neoliberal "Free Trade Agreements" with the US and other Latin American countries like Colombia, the use of force and prison terms against indigenous communities defending land and life, and so on.

[URGENT] Quebec Cops Attack Peaceful Algonquin Blockade

blackandred — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 16:30:43 -0700

...[D]ozens of riot cops over-ran the families who were peacefully demonstrating. Riot cops surrounded the area, and launched tear gas canisters, one of which hit a child in the chest. Nine people, including an elder, a pregnant woman, and two minors, were arrested. Eight demonstrators remained locked down to concrete-filled barrels, but police used "pain compliance"...to force them to let go, and be arrested...The blockade has been violently dismantled, but the need to apply pressure to the government has become more urgent. Please take a few minutes to show your support.

Canada's Elections: What's the Alternative to the Conservatives?

blackandred — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 16:45:57 -0700

By Roger Annis - October 06, 2008

Canada's minority Conservative Party government has called a federal election for October 14. Serious issues confront voters - war in the Middle East and Afghanistan, the economic downturn that will grow out of the U.S. financial crisis, and climate change that endangers human life on our planet. But four of the five parties in the federal parliament are avoiding serious debate on these issues...The fifth, the labour-based New Democratic Party (NDP), has a platform that responds to many working class needs, but it is evading vital issues.