test blog 5

Resistance to the migrant concentration camps in the US seems to be growing. Or maybe I'm just seizing on anything that looks like hope. I wanted to collect all the examples I've seen so far, then I'll post more in real time. June 2018: No Kids In Cages marches July 2, 2019: #CloseTheCamps protests in advance of the July 4th holiday. July 12, 2019: Lights for Liberty . Americans: GO. Direct action to free people: post their bail ! Indianapolis church puts creche scene in a cage Kansas kids' lemonade stand raising funds to help "kids at the border" Never Again Is Now: Boston protest shuts down the city.  Similar protests happened in many US cities. I love that these Jewish activists are claiming the streets. Law firm offers pro bono representation to any ICE worker who resists participating in family separation. This photo circulated with a story on a protest in Boston, but was taken at a protest in San Francisco. Workers at Wayfair walk off jobs , protesting...

Tl;dr? Learn about the National Network of Abortion Funds , and give generously. * * * * Right-thinking Americans and Canadians are reeling at extreme anti-abortion laws sweeping through at least a dozen states: Alabama, Missouri, and Georgia, are the worst offenders, but Ohio, North Dakota, Kentucky, Mississippi, Iowa, and others are not far behind. Most of these laws are blatantly unconstitutional, and are designed to force SCOTUS to overturn with  Roe v. Wade . These latest lethal weapons are the logical progression of the War on Women that's been going on for at least 30 years. Democrats and most liberal Americans sat idly by while anti-abortion-rights forces took over one state legislature after the next, setting up obstacle after obstacle designed to prevent access to safe, legal abortion, thereby limiting the human rights of great swaths of American women. While all anyone could talk about was Roe v. Wade , that poorly-written law became irrelevant for millions of women. Ame...

As the outrages pour out of the US daily, or seemingly hourly, good people's shock and horror are often accompanied by feelings of frustration and helplessness. Far too many well-intentioned organizations are lining up around the midterm elections, as if the answer lies only at the ballot box. Many people are organizing locally to support rallies, demonstrations, letter writing, and the like. Still, the frustration is palpable -- and understandable. These actions, although important, feel so insufficient. The current US government shows no sign of respecting the rule of law or popular opinion, and certainly not morality. One concrete action we can take to resist the Trump agenda is to support military resistance. Whenever and wherever fascist governments have perpetrated crimes against individuals and against humanity, they have been enabled by the loyalty of the militaries at their commands. "We were just following orders." This was the answer famously given by Nazi of...

With the resignation of US Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy, it is very likely that Roe v. Wade , the Supreme Court decision legalizing abortion, will be overturned. I'm getting frustrated by the spate of stories about how abortion will now be illegal -- with no mention of how Roe has become meaningless for so many women. I wrote this (below) on Common Dreams in 2005. I was off on the chronology -- it took longer to get to this point than I thought it would -- and the lack of access has undoubtedly gotten worse since then.  This piece in The Guardian will bring you up to date. * * * * * January 23, 2005 For Millions of American Women, Roe Is Already History By Laura Kaminker Thirty-two years ago yesterday, American women gained greater control over their bodies - and therefore, over their lives - when Roe v. Wade , the Supreme Court decision legalizing abortion, became the law of the land. The choice community celebrates the Roe anniversary as a kind of emancipation day, bu...

As we all sit helplessly agog at the latest spectacle going on in the US, here are some organizations to which you can donate (or volunteer) to help. How To Help Migrant Parents & Children Who Are Separated At The Border It's the least we can do. And for most of us, the most we can do. Where have we seen this before?  Message to My History Teacher, Who[m] I Once Asked Why No One Stopped the Concentration Camps: NEVER MIND BBC: US Separates 2,000 Children in Six Weeks NY Times: Taking Migrant Children From Families is Illegal, U.N. tells U.S. New Yorker: Taking Children From Their Parents is a Form of State Terror ( Canadians know about this .) Disaster capitalism: Military contractors making tens of millions helping Trump tear families apart ICYMI:  How To Help Migrant Parents & Children Who Are Separated At The Border

I've wanted to write about these two books for a long time, but adequately summarizing them is a daunting task. I just want to say to every activist and organizer: READ THESE BOOKS . I don't want to represent the authors' ideas, I want you to read them yourself . No Shortcuts: Organizing for Power in the New Gilded Age by Jane F. McAlevey and The End of Protest: A New Playbook for Revolution by Micah White are both aimed at activists and organizers -- people who already believe in the need for social change and are trying to influence the world in a progressive direction. Both books identify pitfalls and shortcomings in the current ways we approach our activism, and they offer concrete ideas for change, along with theory and philosophy to guide our decisions. Both are beautifully written, powerful, and essential. No Shortcuts  focuses on the labour movement, but McAlevey's analysis could apply to any movement. The labour movement is an excellent lens through which to...

The deadline to join the NDP and vote for Niki Ashton is August 17 . Last night I saw something that shocked me, and today I did something I've never done before: I joined a political party. And I did it so I can cast my vote for Niki Ashton for leader of the federal NDP. * * * * I worked on Saturday, and was very busy, with zero time to check headlines or social media. After work, I was watching the Red Sox trounce the Yankees and idly tapping on my tablet, when I was stopped cold. Heather Heyer was killed when a Nazi rioter drove a car into the crowd. I am not easily shocked. Perhaps I think I am shock-proof. But the spectacle of an angry mob carrying torches and Nazi banners, openly attacking a group of peaceful protesters, hit me like a gut punch. I've been writing about the collapse of the US empire, the US becoming a third world country, the fascist shift, and so on, for a long time. It's not like the rise of the white supremacists came out of nowhere. And it's no...

Since I'm making an effort to put more of my thoughts here, I'm gathering up a bunch of my Facebook posts and responses. If we know each other on Facebook, apologies for the repetition. I find much of the analysis and commentary I've seen about the recent US election to be quite strange. Donald Trump has been elected President of the United States. That happened. Here's what didn't happen. 1. "The United States is a democracy. The people chose Trump, end of story." 60,467,601 US voters chose Hillary Clinton. 60,072,551 US voters chose Donald Trump. More than 100,000,000 Americans eligible to vote did not vote. More than 5 million Americans cannot vote because they are either incarcerated or have been incarcerated, and thus have been disenfranchised. There has been rampant voter suppression and vote fraud in both the primaries and the general election. The United States is also a democracy if you close your eyes and stop up your ears. Some views on winn...

I've spent the past several months reassuring my co-workers and baldly stating on Facebook that Donald Trump would not become President of the United States. The lesson for me and for many of us: never underestimate what angry, alienated people can be led to do. The racism, hatred, and violence that is always present in the United States, decades of hopelessness and downward mobility that have gone completely unaddressed, and a demagogue fearmonger unafraid to pander to the lowest strains of American life: and here we are. It would appear the system is less rigged than I thought. I thought the corporatocracy that controls the US would not allow this to happen. I thought Trump's presence on the right -- a huge boon to Democrats by shutting down left-of-liberal resistance -- would also drive moderate Republicans to vote Democrat. If either of these scenarios came into play, they were not of sufficient magnitude to overcome the popular discontent and desperation. I fervently hate ...

Another awesome athlete protest that I have no time to write about. I can only thank Colin Kaepernick for his courage. Joy of Sox speaks for me:  To Mookie Betts (And Others): The Right To Protest Has Nothing To Do With The Military .

Many years back, I used to blog about a phenomenon called fascist shift . I borrowed the term from Naomi Wolf 's essential  The End of America , but the concept was something I had been thinking about for many years. In brief, fascist shift asks, What if we're all looking for jackboots and Sieg Heil and tanks rolling down Pennsylvania Avenue, and while we're keeping our eyes peeled for a scene from a black-and-white newsreel, a different brand of fascism moves in and sets up shop? What if today's fascism is more insidious and less obvious - and what if it's dressed up in a democracy costume? What if while you're saying That can happen here  and But they wouldn't do that , it already has, and they did. When you scroll through Wolf's ten indicators of fascism , are there any not seen in the US? And have any of them been repaired or reversed under Obama? Not a one. Now, though, Donald Trump's presidential bid and the many millions of Americans who supp...

On the long list of anti-democratic policies the majority Harper Government has enacted, the Orwellian-named Fair Elections Act ranks near the top. More properly called a voter suppression law, the Act effectively disenfranchise tens of thousands of Canadians. The Council of Canadians has taken the issue to court, including an ongoing Charter Challenge , but those won't affect the upcoming election. That means there's only one way to lessen the effects: voter education.  Last night at the Malton Library, we contributed to that effort, with  #VotePopUp , a voter education program for new Canadians.  Some weeks ago, I learned that one of our libraries had hosted this program, and jumped onboard. I worked with an amazing community organizer, who has a bit of funding from Samara Canada  and Elections Canada, and copious amounts of know-how through the Peel Poverty Action Group  and her own nonprofit, Building Up Our Communities. I promoted the program through v...

I've just finished two truly excellent works of nonfiction: Wild  and Zeitoun . Both books read like fiction, with clean, clear writing and page-turning suspense. Both document almost unbelievable, out-sized events, in one case likely unique, in the other - horribly - anything but. I highly recommend both books. I didn't expect to like Wild . Something about the phrase "best-selling memoir" just turns me off. But when the book was chosen as one of my Library's "Raves and Faves," I was intrigued. Those are always excellent books. (I'm quite proud that all five of my Raves and Faves suggestions made the list!) Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Coast Trail  is a story of perseverance and redemption. Her life unhinged, battered by loss and confusion, the author decides to undertake a wilderness backpacking expedition. This is no casual walk in the woods; she's chosen a trail for which experienced backpackers may spend a year in training and res...

Guest post by Allan: Tomorrow - Saturday, March 14 - there will be protests across Canada against Stephen Harper's latest assault on democracy and free speech - Bill C-51 ("The Anti-terrorism Act 2015"). While Harper states the bill would merely "criminalize the promotion of terrorism" and give the government the power to remove "terrorist propaganda" from the internet, left unanswered is who defines "terrorism" and "terrorist propaganda". The bill is written in such overly broad terms it could be applied to nearly anything the Conservative government wants to deem criminal. The introduction of C-51 comes on the heels of news that the Communications Security Establishment, Canada's spy agency, is operating a covert, mass surveillance program that monitors the online activities of millions of Internet users around the world. Ron Deibert, a professor at the University of Toronto, likened the CSE program to a "giant X-ray mac...