Features

Humor vs monsters

May 082012

An interview with Yes Man Andy Bichlbaum on why every protest needs some fun.

by Laura Gottesdiener

Last week, a press release was released announcing YourBofA.com, a new website (apparently) from Bank of America. It was followed by another, seemingly hastily-written press release imploring readers to ignore the "malicious website (YourBofA.com) that is fraudulently representing itself as a Bank of America re-branding effort." The second release insisted, "Bank of America is not making plans to enter into federal receivership."

Inequality: the enemy between us

May 082012

Features

Researchers argue that even the rich are hurt by economic inequality.

by Richard Wilkinson and Kate Pickett

The evidence shows unmistakably that more equal societies — those with smaller income differences between rich and poor — are friendlier and more cohesive: community life is stronger, people trust each other more, and there is less crime and violence. So the deep human intuition that inequality is divisive and socially corrosive is true.

People in more unequal societies have worse health and lower life expectancy; they are more likely to have drug problems and to suffer more mental illness. Measures of child wellbeing are worse and children do less well at school. Rates of teenage births, obesity and violence are all higher, and more people are in prison.

Importing cheaper workers

May 082012

Features

Changes to immigration policy could transform society.

by Armine Yalnizyan

Have you noticed how common it has become to talk about replacing workers with even cheaper workers? If you're looking over your shoulder, you're not paranoid; you're paying attention. There's probably a cheaper you out there. And in Canada, the feds are helping your boss find them.

Quebec students challenge dogma

May 082012

Features

Subsidizing education creates workers to carry pension costs.

by Linda McQuaig

No wonder those Quebec student protestors have been spooking the English Canadian establishment. If they get their way, the same ideas could catch on here, leaving the best-laid plans for austerity in tatters.

Student march ends in arrests across city

May 022012

Features

CLASSE members protest exclusion from tuition hike negotiations.

by Laurent Bastien Corbeil and Henry Gass

MONTREAL, April 25 2012 — Police clashed with protesters for the second time this week as negotiations between three student associations and the Quebec government broke down.

Canada’s secret bank bailout

May 012012

Features

Taxpayer support for Canadian banks reached $114 billion at peak.

from the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives

OTTAWA, April 30, 2012 — A study released today by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA) estimates the previously secret extent of extraordinary support required by Canada’s banks during the financial crisis.

A plea for Rio+20: don’t commodify Nature

May 012012

Features

Indigenous wisdom sees a future that does not include a buy-out of the earth's natural systems.

by David Korten.

"Time is life."

With these three words, Karma Tshiteem, Secretary of the Bhutan Gross National Happiness Commission, ended his brief description of Bhutan's distinctive approach to economic development. It caught my attention because of the striking contrast to our common Western phrase, "Time is money."

The event I was attending was a small international gathering primarily of indigenous environmental leaders. I was privileged to be among the few non-indigenous writer-activists invited to join them.

What the Quebec students want

May 012012

Features

Students call for general strike to reclaim the public realm.

from The Bullet

The student revolt that has been shaking the Quebec state, has been
captivating activists across Canada and the world. Coalition large de
l’association pour une solidarité syndicale étudiante (CLASSE) is the major
component of the coalition of student unions leading the strike of some
180,000 students out on strike. It is said to represent about half of the
coalition.

Tritium leaks at Peterborough airport

Apr 252012

Features

Four NGOs call for shutdown, protest re-licencing.

from Safe And Green Energy (SAGE)

Emissions of radioactive tritium from a Peterborough area nuclear facility situated at the Peterborough Municipal Airport are many times higher than previously reported, and more than twice the maximum annual release allowed by the company's existing licence for 2010 and 2011.

Ontario headed for a showdown

Apr 252012

Features

NDP's Andrea Horwath reclaims social contract.

by Linda McQuaig

It's hard to fight a class war without a billionaire onside. Hence Andrea Horwath's dilemma.

The Ontario NDP leader has thrown down a gauntlet of sorts — demanding, or at least politely requesting — that Dalton McGuinty's Liberal minority impose a new slightly higher tax rate on Ontarians making more than $500,000 a year.

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